


My L.O.V.E.

by Kyoko1381



Category: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter - Laurell K. Hamilton
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-05
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:02:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 61,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21677200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kyoko1381/pseuds/Kyoko1381
Summary: Sometimes vacations don't go as planned. Scratch that, life usually doesn't go as planned. We are always standing on a perpetual line of right and wrong and we stumble more than we would like to say. Every person looks for the ending, the place where we could relax and revel in success after all the work we just put in... but we never do. Where's the end? How do you define your personal ending outside of death? How do you define winning? Would it not depend on the goal first set, the pace in which you propel yourself to the end, and the body capability of actually completing the task? This all sound rather cryptic, a monologue full of questions rather than answering them. I guess the only answer I can give is a story. A story about a different time, in a different place, full of the naive.
Relationships: anita/edward
Comments: 13
Kudos: 36





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

My L.O.V.E., or My Little Ordinary Vacation Ended…and rather abruptly too. So abruptly that it never actually started. You know, it might do to start from the beginning. Telling you the end result will only make you wonder, as I've wondered, how we came to this. Maybe by telling you the story I will be able to see what I've done wrong... or right.

...5 MONTH'S AGO...

I was standing outside of HIS door.

It’s almost two in the morning and I could see the light on. I know he’s awake but I don’t knock. I came here out of desperation for a reprieve. The boys have done nothing wrong and they’re actually trying to lessen all the burdens on me; but I couldn’t take the stress anymore. I needed space. I needed air and I needed it away from the boys. This morning I had left to go to work and failed to return. Even now I can feel Jean-Claude pushing on the link trying to find me, but I created an impenetrable fortress within my mind that he can’t get through. I needed time away from them all and it’s not like they had done anything wrong! I just felt smothered and alone. I mean all my human friends deserted me and the only one that I thought would take me in for a while was Him. He may not like my choices but he always looked after me when I need it. Always, and he never need an explanation as to why he should but he just would and I needed that right now.

I took a deep breath rose my hand and knock three solid times. I didn’t hear a change in the house but I could feel him coming towards the door, gun in hand. The door opened slowly and I was facing the barrel of a gun with cold blue eyes staring at me. He was standing behind the door as he peeked around the corner. I was willing to bet a favorable body part that the door was reinforced with steel plates. When he realized it was me he dropped his gun and opened the door all the way, never taking his eyes off of me. We stared at each other for a full two minutes.

“Anita” He said breaking the silence.

I nodded, showing that I understood his question, and broke eye contact looking down my bag. It was small, which made sense since I only packed Sigmund. I even left my weapons bag with the guns that Edward had given me in my locker I had installed in the trunk portion of my jeep. I only had the basic weapons on my person, the browning, my Firstar, wrist sheaths, and spin knife. Edward followed my eyes and studied my too small bag, before looking back at my face. I could feel his eyes boring into my temple. I took a deep breath and looked back into his eyes.

“I needed to get away.”

He nodded. That small amount of information gave him just enough to get the general idea of what’s going on. He took a step back and waved me in. I hesitated as I gathered my wits and walked through the door. He closed the door behind me and began to lead me down the hall towards the stairs leading to the bedrooms. We walked only a few steps in before he stopped in front of me. I hadn’t expected it and nearly ran into him, but he side stepped me-as he has a tendency to do- and caught me before I fell. My cheeks flamed red as I straightened my cloths and looked down. I was completely off my game. I mentally gathered myself and looked him in the eye, daring him to comment on my mental instability.

I watched him study me as he went through all of his possibilities that wouldn’t push me over the edge. After a minute he made the right choice, as always, and let it be. I could tell the exact moment he decided, because I knew this man. He was my best friend, and I am, what I believe to be, his only friend. I truly think that I am the only person on this planet that could read his cold blank face. And I know that sometimes he hates that I can, so I keep my verbal perceptions on the down low 0.01% of the time.

I watched him, waiting for him to speak. I knew he had something to say or he wouldn’t have stopped so abruptly, but he didn’t say anything. He just stood and stared at me and I got the hint. It was the ‘time to see who’s the bigger bad ass stare’ that we’ve been doing since we’ve met. He is one of the most competitive son of a bitch that I know.

We stood in the hall for a full five minutes before our little competition had come to a close, by a loud burst of male laughter. I turned toward the sound and was about to move towards it when Edward grabbed my right arm and shook his head.

“No killing,” He said and glanced pointedly at my hand before he let go and took a step back. I stared in confusion for a moment before I looked down and saw my Browning pointed at the floor. *When did I pull out my weapon?* As I puzzled over my instinctual movements I slowly holstered my weapon. Edward broke me out of my reprieve.

“There are others here. They do not sleep here and are leaving soon, but you will have to pass them.”

I looked at him in question as to why random men were in his house at this hour. He just blanked and stared at me until it hit me why he would. *God I’m stupid! He’s a paid assassin! Duh! He’s planning a job!* I looked away from him, “An illegal job… ” I paused unsure about how to respond to this development. I had come here for a chance at relaxing and clearing out my head. Edward doing illegal shit is not conducive to relaxation.

It had been quite for a minute or two before I realized that I had been in my own thoughts, but Edward hadn’t interrupted me. That was weird. I looked up and saw that he had been having his own inner monologue as well. He tilted his head to the side as he considered me, “We need a witch on this, you want in?”

My eyes widened in surprise. Did he really just offer me to help him do something illegal? Truthfully it should not have surprised me as much as it did but what can I say. I haven’t been able to get Edwards thought patterns down yet. He knew I didn’t do illegal shit, why would he even offer it? He should know my answer. So I answered with barely any hesitation.

“I’m in.”

Shit! Was that my voice? Fuck! I must be even more out of it then I thought! But I guess this was my subconscious telling me I needed to blow off steam and as it was, there are no legal jobs for me to do, so against the law it is!

He considered me for a minute, as if judging if I was really willing to do it or not. He stared into my eyes, looking for something, and he must have found it acceptable because he nodded and turned toward his living area.

“So you’re not going to give me any for warning about what this job is about before we walk in there?” I asked in exasperation, never leaving my spot in the hall.

He didn’t even pause as he glanced back with his trade mark ‘I know something you don’t know’ smirk. Then he just turned around and continued on his merry way into the living room and his _‘guests’_. I sighed and picked up my tinny little bag that I had dropped when I had pulled my gun, and continued on my way to meet the spooks. I walked slowly to draw out the time, trying to prepare myself to face a bunch of highly trained assassins. I reached the door a few seconds after Edward had walked in. I calmed my beating heart right before I turned the corner.

There were five men sitting and standing around the room, all of them sitting in the best vantage points in the room that they could get. They all quieted and stared at me as I entered into the room. Edward was in the middle of the room, but his back was between me and a wall. I took his positioning to mean that he did not trust the other men with his life, but that he did trust me. All the men in the room picked up on his silent statement making the tension in the room sky rocket. Damn men and their testosterone poisoning, and I know that it doesn't help that I'm an attractive girl; actually that makes this ten times worse.

I sighed. Of course they would be intense about this! He not only just said that he trusts me but he said in the guy assassin code that he trusts me to have his back. This, if you didn’t get it, means that he holds me in high regard and knows that I can handle myself. God! This day could not get any worse! I come here to chill out and I end up about to have a pissing contest with five alpha males. Just Great.

Edward moved back to the wall completely while he started the introductions. He gestured to the man in the far left corner next to his, way too sterile, fire place. “Grimm…” He was tall, around 6’1’’ or something; it was hard to tell since he was slouching in the corner…okay okay! So that’s not really tall but please remember that I’m 5’2’’ and anything above 5’9’’ is tall for me. His hair was completely white, and it wasn’t from old age. I assumed that the name his name was not really Grimm, but like Death, it was a title given to him by an odd assortment of people. I gave the nod of acknowledgment that is generally accepted as the tough guy proverbial hand shake. He replied in kind and Edward moved on pointing to another man to the right of the fire place. He was leaning against the fire place in what many would consider nonchalant but I could tell by his lazy smile and blank expression in his gray eyes that he was on guard. He had a slightly over grown military buzz cut, almost as if he left but couldn’t bring himself to remove the last of his physical reminders of the past. “Slick”, I gave him the same greeting as I had the given to Grimm.

Edward pointed down to a small, for he could be no more than 5’5 or 5’6, man squatting in front of the fire place. His brown hair was messy, and not the expensive artfully messy style some men try for but just plain old messy. His cloths were wrinkled like he just threw them on, but they did match so that has to count for something. Once he had my full attention he smiled what I would call the prince charming smile. Full of innocence, courage, bravery, and beauty….Gag me with a spoon; it was so fake that I snorted while trying to hold back my laugh. All that imaginary emotion disappeared with my impromptu half laugh causing the tension in the room to not only sky rocket but to pass the moon and head for the sun. “Imp,” he said while giving me the ‘Really’ look. I shrugged and looked at the fourth and fifth guy to my left, one was sitting in the love seat near the kitchen door and the other was standing behind it, still trying to control my mirth and to wipe that wretched half smile of my face. The mere fact that I was so amused by such an insignificant thing as an assassin, nick named Imp mind you, was trying to act charming for my benefit says a lot about my current mental stability. Then again I was always considered certifiable when it came to my mental state, so this was nothing new.

“Jackson and his brother Reaver.” Both Jackson and Reaver looked like they were twins. They are what you would consider ruggedly handsome. He had dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, prominent cheek bones, as if he had some Indian in his blood, which would make sense since both him and his brother have a permanent tan. I won’t be able to check their hair for the famous Indian flowing locks since they were both as bald as a baby's bottom. I could only tell the difference between the two because one has a scar running from his forehead, barely by passing his eye, stopping an inch above his mouth. Even their clothing was identical, since they were dressed in assassins chic.

The second name gave me pause, “Like the Reaver’s in Serenity?”

I saw the quick surprise in his eyes as he froze for a moment before giving me a quick nod and smile in my media experiences. The tension in the room came down to a low murmur as Reaver answered. “Yes, I was not aware that anyone would recognize it.”

I laughed, dispersing the last of the lingering tension. “I used to watch the show too before it went off of the air. Firefly was my number one show, until Battle Star Galactic came out…again.”

His brother Jackson took this moment to involve himself into the conversation. ”That’s one of my favorite as well although it not my number one.”

I can feel the rest of the room staring at us with, what I can only consider; stunned disbelief and I could totally understand their feelings. I mean how common is it to run into three assassins talking about their favorite movies and TV shows. I have to admit that it is rather weird, even for all the weird we work around on a daily basis.

It was silent for about a second before I had to ask the question that was now on everyone's mind.

“Which show is your favorite?”

He smiled, pleased to have the spotlight. “Futurama”

“HA!” I laughed and couldn't seem to stop after I got started. It would seem that all the pressure from the boys and everything was just too much. It took me two minutes to cool it enough to talk and by then the brothers lost all their warm and fuzzies thinking that I was making fun of them. I also noticed that Edward wasn't worried; he knew what was wrong with me and why I was laughing. He also knew that I loved Futurama too, just not quite as much as Battlestar Galactica.

“I love Futurama too, it ranks number two on my list...” I said, finally able to breathe enough to get it out. The brothers relaxed and smiled once more when they realized that I wasn't making fun of them but laughing at the coincidence.

They opened their mouths to reply but Edward cut us off, “Now that everyone knows each other and their likes...” he stopped and gave me a pointed look. I just shrugged and smiled at him with my best innocent look. He paused to give me a brief look of suspicion and then turned to face the rest of the room once more. “As the rest of you already know the mission I won’t go over it again...” I sighed inwardly, so he was going to leave me in the dark until they left huh? Bastard. “But I will introduce you to her,” he nodded towards me, as if there was any other girl in the room, “before you go.” He put his back fully towards the wall again so he can look at me full on without twisting all the way around. “Gentleman this is the Executioner, also known as War, and she will be the magic expert on this assignment.”

I felt more than heard the men startle as Edward spoke my aliases given to me by the monsters that I hunted. I could feel the testosterone rise in the room as they look at me wondering if they could take me out. Since I had studied each and every one of them I knew that that would be impossible. They were good, and I was over exaggerating (better than under exaggerating) their potential, but not at mine and Edwards level. I can tell by their muscle mass, temperament, and how they hold themselves how good they are. It's not something that I could always do so quickly but Edward helped me hone my skills, as he has a tendency to do.

The men stared at me trying to see what has the monsters so afraid of me that they named me twice. To get one name among the monsters in impressive but to get two bad ass names is legendary. They actually named Edward twice too, although it was the same as his first one, even though they thought they were naming a different person. Death and War, two of the four horseman of the apocalypse, the other two, Bernardo and Olaf, Hunger and Pestilence, are generally synonymous. Our names are connected due to our history of solving many impossible cases together and killing tons of the big and bad all on our lone some; we just happen to be a force of destruction when we work together.

Reaver was the one to break the silence, “Well...no one can say anything about my taste in shows now...”

The five men began to laugh releasing the last of the tension in the room. Edward did not join in. No. Edward continued to look me in the eyes, searching. For what? I have no idea and probably never will, but he still continued to do so and I stared right back, refusing to be cowed by his cool eyes.


	2. Wait...what?

Chapter 2

We continued to stare at each other until I finally realized what Edward was searching for in my eyes. He wanted to know if I was okay. If I could be the Executioner. If I had it in me to be War. I came here out of desperation and he knew it, but I volunteered for this. Edward trusted me to know my limits and to have his back, but he was still worried about me, and I loved him for that. More than anything I did not expect for the most dangerous man in the world to give a shit about me.

In return to his stare and underlying question I let down my shields and allowed him to see me, and that I could handle this. That, for him, I can be the Executioner. I can be the woman that the monsters named as War. I showed him that, more than anything, I needed this reprieve. I needed to be able to be my true self and let loose. I needed this hunt to relax and it was at this thought that I finally realized that **this** was why I had come in search of Edward and not anyone else. I was tired of acting with the boys. I was tired of pushing my natural instincts down so they can sleep at night. I wish, **wish** , that Edward and I could truly love each other romantically. He was perfect for me, and I for him, but for as perfect that we were for each other we were also wrong. Maybe he was right. Maybe we were too similar to be able to love each other like that.

I think that Edward saw the desperation in my eyes, the want for the respite for lying to the people around me all the time. Everyone thinks they know me but the only person who really knows me is the man standing right in front of me. Edward showed that he understood my thoughts when his face softened in kind as he turned fully and walked over to me while stating “Get out”. I stood where I was, knowing that he was referring to the five men stationed around the room, who were, previously, joking around, now, they were looking in between me and Edward making assumptions that were off; not totally but off none the less. They thought that I was Edwards’s girl, romantically, and they were half right. I was Edwards’s girl, just platonically.

Edward stopped in front of me as he let his face go into killer mode and he looked at the other men within his home, “Now”. I smiled internally as I heard the very real threat behind his words and their immediate response of rushing, as much as a bunch of highly trained assassins rushed, to do his bidding. One minute the room was full and the next I could hear the soft click of the front door. I was fine for a second until I realized what the departure of the others meant. It was time for me and Edward to have a heart-to-heart. Which meant that I was about to talk about a lot of things that I don't want to discuss about my personal life. The up sides to this being that I could dig into Edwards past and, once our little discussion is over, learn about the mysterious job that I had willingly signed myself up for. Yup! There's always an upside to life, it's just that the down sides are generally first and those suck.

“Anita,” Edward said softly, bending a little at the waist to look into my eyes. I left my inner dialogue to focus on him fully and, when he had my full attention, he continued “What's wrong?”

I took a minute too process his question, knowing what he was asking. He wanted it all even though he knew that I liked to talk when I was ready. The only reason he was pushing me now was the job. He needed to know exactly where I was at mentally so he knew what to expect, how hard he could push me, and how hard I would push myself. So instead of responding angrily as I usually would, I took the time to really come to a conclusion as to where I was at. After a minute of contemplation I shook my head and thought fuck it. Edward was going to get the whole story from me no matter what anyway, mind as well start from the beginning.

“A few months ago I started to feel...well...depressed I guess.” I took in a deep breath and released it slowly. “It was nothing that really set it off either. The boys aren't doing anything wrong, there were no terrible cases, and I had no real reason to feel bad.” I paused as I walked over to the now vacated couch that Reaver was sitting on. I sat and Edward sat right next to me as I continued. “I felt confined, stuck...I started to lash out at the boys. They tried to work with me and help me out but every time they tried to talk to me I... I just...” I paused looking down as I was clenching my hands trying to find the right words. After a moment of internal struggle I finally looked in Edwards eyes, letting down some more of my shields so he could see it. “Every time they tried to talk to me about it I felt a rage I've never experienced before, and I've been angry plenty within my life.” Edward nodded as he continued to stare into my eyes. He could see it and, I think in a way, understand it. I pushed all that anger back into its ever flowing well and brought up my shields once more. “After a while I found myself isolating myself from the others. I started to walk back allies to have space and calm down before going back to the house or the circus. But every day the walks would work less and less so I began to spend random nights at some hotels so I can sleep without anyone around, no one questioning me, tip toeing around me, without the tension in the air. And I know...I know that I instigated that by my behavior but I can't help it. My thoughts, feelings, and decisions are all being influenced by the metaphysical energy of the people around me, of the marks. It just feels like I'm...like I'm not myself anymore.” I sighed, “I just feel so crowded, almost like I'm drowning in all of their emotions, needs, thoughts, everything.” I looked away from Edwards searching eyes and stared at a spot on the wall leading to the kitchen. “I need space, time to think and most of all I need to do it away from them in a place they won’t come to look for me.” It was quite for a minute I as thought on what to say next. Edward didn't push me, no he sat quietly and waited for me to finish, because he knew that I had more to say. “I did not realize this when it all started all those years ago...but I'm not being true to myself with them. The boys are fine, but the more I think about it the more I feel like I'm with them for the wrong reasons. The idea of them is nice but the reality of it is that I'm lying to them, every day. They **think** they know me when in truth they know nothing about me. They think they understand when they can't possibly fathom why I do what I do. I feel like I'm lying to everyone everyday...I **know** I'm lying to everyone every day. The only person I'm not lying to...” I trailed off. Edward knew without my saying that he was the only one I could be myself around, especially since he felt the same way when it came to Donna and the kids.

Edward gave me a small smile and a quick one shoulder hug; his version of emotions. He then let go, stood and walked over through the door way and into the kitchen. I smiled to myself, only Edward would know how to lift my spirits with just a small show of affection and the promise of a delicious coffee.

I took a moment to calm my nerves from telling my deepest darkest secrets to my only real friend. Edward will probably never return the favor but it made me feel better to no longer have to hold this inside. I mean the boys knew I wasn't giving any of them the whole of me and they had accepted that and I thought that I had as well, but it seems that I had deluded myself. I want to be able to be the real me with the boys without worrying about if they can handle what they learn about me or not, and the funny thing about it is that I KNOW that they won’t be able to. The boys literally know about 2% of what's really me. They don't know 1/24th the shit Edward knows and, he only knows because of our long history together, but mainly because I know that no matter what he won’t judge me. I only hold back from Edward because I don't want him to be burdened with my life. He knows this and leaves it be when I ask for him to, even though it doesn't even matter any way. I mean Edward knows everything there is to know that is worth something. I just didn't tell him about the little things in-between that would probably piss him off. I mean I'm not blind, I know he's extremely protective of me. Why? I don't know and probably will never know.

I can hear the small telltale signs of the coffee drops hitting the bottom of an empty coffee pot. I took this as my cue to get my butt in the kitchen to get my debrief of the coming operation.

I stood and walked into the kitchen to see him leaning against the counter waiting for me to come in and start bombarding him with questions and I was not going to disappoint.

“So, what's the job?”

Edward smiled his 'I know something you don't know' smile and gave me a barely there nod to show that he knew I was not in the mood to play his stupid little games.

“Just to put your anxiety at ease, this job is not completely illegal-”

“Um.... What do you mean that this job is not COMPLETELY illegal? How can a job be kind of illegal? It either is or it isn't.”

Edward shook his head, “The government it's self is supplementing this operation, but it's unknown to the average person and they want it done on the down low.”

My eyes widened, “So it's legal.”

Edward shook his head, “No, if we get caught doing what we're doing then we will be held accountable in the court of law for the crime. The government will not step in and give us an acquittal.”

I snorted, “Then why in the hell are they paying for it? And why the fuck did you and the others accept it?”

“One, the pay is worth the risk and two it benefits us to do this.” He sighed, “Look Anita, this group we're taking out is creating weapons of mass destruction, and not that fake shit that Bush got us to Iraq with, but real ones full of magic, or so we suspect. We need to find this thing, and terminate it and the group responsible. The government can't be involved in this, not directly. If we get caught they want to be able to claim plausible deniability with which ever country that is involved.”

“It's still massive bullshit...“

Edward chuckled, “Yes, it is, but it's the way it is. The American government will do their best to not get in our way, but the other countries have no idea, so we still have to keep on our toes.”

I sighed as I processed this information and after a minute I realized that he still had not informed me of what the mission was exactly. “So what are **we** doing in this drama? I figure we play a rather large role.”

He nodded, “We have a basic idea of what's happening due to the US national security information, but they have no idea who it is, where they are, how much security they have, if magic is really involved, or what country is involved or if it's just a private agency. They only know that this is occurring due to one of our satellites being hacked into and the hacker found footage of the group working on it. I'll show it to you. They were able to find the hacker and determine that the video was authentic but that's about it; the rest is for us to find out.”

“So basically we don't know shit and they expect us to save them from being blamed for being major fuck ups.” I said in disgust. “You know for being a world power our fucking security and information gathering parties fucking suck major shit.” I glared at Edward as if this was all this was his fault. It wasn't but it didn't stop me from glaring at him none the less. Sadly this just made Edward grin and that made me glare harder.

“Yes they do, but that's common knowledge.”

I paused and then began to laugh out loud. I don't know what set me off but I think it was the seriousness that he said it along with the obvious proof that it's true.

I picked my head up and looked at him and smiled the easiest going smile that I have had since ever. I seem to have missed it since the boys have entered my life. “Thank you for that.” I said laughter still in my voice, which was light and happy.

He nodded and continued, “Your new friends, Reaver and his brother Jackson,” He flashed me an irritated look to remind me that he hadn't forgotten how I behaved meeting the men”...are the two best hackers in the world. They government is looking for them at the moment for stealing some highly classified information.” He shook his head before I could get the question out. ”No, it won’t be dangerous for us to use their expertise; they haven't been caught for a reason. Imp, who you've so kindly pissed off, is rather good at finding out information on the underworld, so he should be good at finding out whom we're looking for. Slick knows bombs and other weapons like it better than anyone I've seen. If it's a bomb of some sort he can disable it. And Grimm has pull in almost every country that's worth a damn, it's why they call him Grimm, he can destroy any country he wants with the information he has stored. He's our insurance policy, and I know what you’re thinking, no he won’t turn us over, he may be a back stabber but he's an honorable one and he owes me more than a few favors.”

I closed my mouth; I mean why ask a question that he just answered? “So, I'm the magic expert to deal with anything mystical that we run into.”

Edward nodded, “I've told you before Anita, you bridge the world between magic and reality better than anyone I know. You also know more of a wide variety of magic than any witch or sorcerer I have ever met.”

I smiled at the compliment as I stood to pour myself and Edward a cup of that fantastic smelling coffee.

I wanted to process all this and it will take time to do. Luckily I had all night to come to terms with doing a kind-of illegal job with a bunch of, I guess, spooks, about to become a fugitive in probably multiple countries. It's actually funny, the first time a visit another country I'm planning to be banned from it forever, by the sounds of it any way. Although, highly unlikely, they might give us a prize for stopping this atrocity. But if these people are able to hide this well and build what’s being discussed than it has to be funded by the government their stationed inside, which made the idea of a nice clean end to all this impossible. The probability that we'll fail is actually pretty high, but instead of discouraging me, that thought made me excited. On a mission like this I couldn't be Anita Blake; I have to be me, the person I hid years ago.

I finished making our cups of deliciousness to our preferred tastes and brought them back to Edward at the table. “How are Donna and the kids?” I asked trying to talk about something completely mundane to counteract all the serious talk.

He tensed, “Fine...”

Too bad **that** didn't work out. Apparently we were going to have a serious talk about his personal life. “What's wrong Edward?”

Edward took his cup from me and took a small drink of the hot liquid before he decided to continue, “Anita...There's something I need to talk to you about...” He paused again, collecting his thoughts; which freaked me out since Edward was not one to need to collect his thoughts. He generally plans everything known to man beforehand, which means that whatever this is, it caught him off guard. Impossible? I know. But it happened apparently and it must be bad for Edward to pause and not to just spit it out, which he has an annoying, yet kind of nice, habit to do. Edward is not one for formalities no matter how bad the information shared may be. Truthfully I was wishing that he didn't tell me. I mean if it's that bad that it makes Death pause than it's BAD, but apparently he needed to discuss whatever family problem he has and since I'm the only one he can speak too, being his best friend and all, I needed to listen. Plus at this point this is just one of the many things we now do for each other.

“Donna...She still want's a baby.” He sounded so closed off as he said it but I could tell that he was freaking out inside, well freaking out however sociopaths freak out. I calmed a little at the familiar topic, at least he wasn't saying Peter went off his rocker and that Donna has terminal cancer. I mean it's not much better but it is an improvement. It's sad that I consider having children slightly better than Peter being a psychopath and Donna having a painful and slow killing disease but there you go. I mean I think their nice! When they’re not mine.

But I was confused about something though, “Isn't Donna like 45? She's about to go through menopause and even if she became pregnant before that all her eggs are old and the likely hood of her having birth defects, and complications are extremely high at this point. She can't have a baby now...No offense.”

He smiled, “None taken...” His face sobered once more and he tensed once more preparing himself to say whatever he has to say. I could tell that he was just about to get to the real issue of his little drama. “Donna came to the same conclusions and she knows the statistics. She even knows that her matriarchal line has a habit of having menopause young, but she still wants a child. She's dead set on it so much so in fact she even thought of adoption, but she deemed it to impersonal.”

“Impersonal? How is adoption impersonal? Does she realize how hard it is to do? You have to be really involved to get a child through adoption!”

He nodded, “I said the same, she said it wasn't the process that was impersonal but the fact that she has nothing to do with its birth and so on.” My shock reduced and I shrugged. If that was how she was thinking about it then yes adoption is rather impersonal. “Anita...You remember when you were in the hospital and I told you about Donna accepting our non-existent relationship and finally agreeing to tie the knot.” I nodded even though he didn't stop to acknowledge it. “Well, Donna wants for ME and YOU to have a baby.”


	3. Ugh...Long Conversation

Chapter 3

I plopped down on the chair that I had previously vacated and stared at Edward opened mouth. My mind was whirling with just the idea of a baby, much less getting past the fact that Donna wants me to have one with Edward. I could tell that he was watching my reaction to the news and filing it away for later, but I couldn't find it in me to hide my emotions. This was total fucking bullshit! WHAT THE FUCK! Did I not have enough on my plate without this! GOD DAMN IT!!! I came here to fucking relax from the endless problems at home to run right into another one! And this one might even qualify as being THE worse, by far!

Edward just looked at me and knew that I was mentally freaking out. “I know, I fought with her for the past two weeks, but she's determined Anita. That's the only reason I'm bringing it up. I told her you wouldn't go for it, our lives are too dangerous, too many enemies. Her argument, we love Peter and Becca and their perfectly fine, why not one more? I replied that you live very dangerously and the chances of you making a whole pregnancy without being shot at, kidnapped, jumped, or beat up was slim to none especially since you'll be at your worst and that's when they'll all target you.”

I could barely keep up with what he was saying, “What'd she say?” I could barely stop myself from slurring my words I was so slack jawed from shock.

“To keep you here in New Mexico, in this house, when we know for sure you’re pregnant.”

“And what about my job? What did she have to say about that?” I was finally pushing off the shock. I think it would have taken longer if Edward had not been his usual cold analytical self while he fought his soon to be wife for the continued lack of inhabitation of my uterus. “Plus the boys have been pushing me for kids too; they would NEVER stand by and let me have a child with you. Hell! I won’t stand by and allow Donna to force us to have a child I, WE, don't want to have.” I don't think that I've ever stressed so many words in my life but there you go. Damn Donna. “Plus we're not, we can't, us together like that is dangerous, as you know, and even if we could be that way for each other, again, I will have a child when I want to and not a second sooner. Which will be never.”

“I know Anita, more than anyone. I know both you and myself better than anyone. It's why I never told you.” He sighed, “Look, I have been fighting her tooth and nail about this and even brought up the kids. It would break their hearts to think that I've cheating on their mother this whole time, especially with you. They both idealize you more than anyone they know.” That caused me to pause, I mean what about me is idol worthy? I blush from the roots of my hair down, “Seriously? Why?” I ask a little shyly. Edward smiled a little, “Becca sees you as a, and I quote, 'real life Tomb Raider' and said that 'if dancing doesn't work than she wants to be like you when she gets older.' And of course Peter has a crush on you, as you know, and said, in not so many words, that he'll never find another woman like you and he's been looking.” God dammit, my face couldn't get any more red than it is right now. I actually think that if I take off my shoes my toes will be red too. “Damn it Edward...” I mumble under my breath. I could feel Edward watching me and enjoying the hell out of my reaction. “What are we going to do about Donna?” I ask trying to get back on topic. Yes I was avoiding this particular discussion since I have no idea what to say and/or do about this tidbit of information. Edward shrugs, “I don't think there's anything that we can do about her. She's going to keep pushing this issue until she can't anymore.” I give a burst of a sarcastic laugh, “You mean when I hit menopause and it's biologically impossible.” He gave me a quick smirk and nodded, “Exactly, Donna can be very...persistent when she wants to be. At this point the best thing to do would be to focus on the mission and to deal with Donna when we absolutely have to until we can come up with a better course of action.” I could tell that Edward wasn't telling me everything, and although I did want the whole story, at this particular point in time I was tired of drama and I know what ever he's hiding it will result in more drama.

So, I nodded and, with all my might, ignored my habit to poke at things and pushed the issue to the back of my mind. He was right, there's nothing we can do about it right now, so the best thing to do would be to ignore it for the moment. The mission is much more important on the oh shit scale. “Okay, I'm willing to ignore the craziness of your soon to be wife and focus on work. So, I know the mission, what are we doing about it as of now?”

“Reaver and his brother Jackson are working on finding any leads they can get through the computer, as well as trying to track the old signal that the other hacker accidentally stumbled upon. Imp is checking his underground contacts and Grimm is checking his foreign contacts for any word of something like this developing. He might be able to pin point a country to start in which is more than we had before. I want you to brush up on the magic your sketchy in, Slick will be doing the same with the bombs, and I'll try to plan for what we need to do for any country we might have to go to. That's all we can do for the moment.” I nodded my agreement as Edward stood and took our empty cups to the sink. “As for right now,” he put our cups in the sink after rinsing them and turned back to face me, “Get some sleep and worry about it in the morning. Stressing yourself out now is not going to help anyone or anything. You came here to relax, use this time to do so.”

I smiled at Edwards bossy, no bullshit, way of being concerned for me. He's always been like this even … even... I frowned. Wait... what was I thinking about? Jeez, I feel so dizzy...I think I should take Edward up on his offer and take this time to relax. I've been so uptight about everything at home some undisturbed shut eye should do the trick to bring my mind back up to speed.

I stood to leave the kitchen and head to my room, well at least the room I was in before when I was here. Just as I was passing Edward when another wave of dizziness hit me and my legs gave out. If it wasn't for Edwards quick reflexes I would have done a header into the edge of the counter, I couldn't have caught myself if I had tried. Am I sick? Never, without outside help, have my body felt so weak and useless. What the hell is wrong with me? Can I get sick with the marks? I don't think so.

Edward ended up taking my full weight, which he wasn't expecting, so he was pulled down to the ground with me. Luckily he was able to slow our descent so neither of us got hurt in the process. I took in a few deep breaths as I re-orientated myself to my surroundings once more while I held my self completely still. I didn't want to cause another attack to occur by accident.

“Anita?”

I heard Edward's questioning voice and wanted to answer but I was just so tired and dizzy to even think of forming the appropriate response right now. I have no idea why I was like this. I slowly shook my head, trying to convey that he shouldn't move yet, that something was wrong. He must have understood since he didn't move any part of his body that was supporting me. It took me a while, maybe ten minutes, to get my mind and body back in working order before I finally opened my eyes to find Edward not two inches from my face, staring at me intently.

I stared back as I slowly shook off the last of the, well, the whatever the hell it was. When my head was finally clear and my brain kicked back into gear I realized how awkward our positioning was. Edward must have really been surprised by my fall because he was practically lying right on top of me with his arm and leg caught under my body. Which, happen to trap him when I indicated for him not to move me. The only reason I wasn't **_completely_** mortified, only **_really_** mortified, by our position was that he managed to get enough space between us so our bodies weren't touching. So it wasn't an uncomfortable position to be in just really precarious, suggestive, and slightly unnerving. Okay I lied, it's completely unnerving and I was just about to tell Edward that I was fine when I heard a slight shifting to my right.

Both Edward and I reacted on instinct. We were up into crouching positions with our guns at the ready in less than a second. Our movements so in tune that we didn't run into each other like our position had all but guaranteed. We couldn't have done it better if we had practiced, and judging by our intruders smug look, it would seem that it really did look like we practice such hurried movements...many times. I look at Edward as I quickly put my gun away, seeing that he does the same, but with an air of irritation. Well, his obvious, but not so obvious, annoyance at our intruder answered my question. No, she was not supposed to be here. Or was she? Now that I think about it Edward had his gun out but not pointed as if he was expecting her to come but didn't think she would at the same time. Weird. Did they have an argument earlier? Idiot, of course they did. Edward just told me about her plans for my uterus. I shook my head trying to get my mental processes back up to speed.

“Donna...” Edward stopped, as if trying to think of a way to undo the damage my moment of weakness had caused. Damn whatever that was!

I sat, waiting for Donna to rant and rave at Edward, I'm sorry, Ted for being a liar and a cheat. I mean I know she accepted our 'relationship' in theory but to see it in action, or what she thought to be us in action, is something completely different. She loved Ted and to have his infidelity, although not with me, shoved in her face would drive anyone to the breaking point. And it sucked because I **_so_** did not want to be the person that wrecked a home through pure accident. That would suck for both me and Edward by dragging both our names through the mud. I mean people get on me already but they never had proof which just made them assholes. If Donna and Ted separate because of me than they would have undeniable proof of my universal sluttiness and my name would be demolished. I would never receive respect from the men, or woman, of the police force, or any force really, again. One thing you learn about being in my field is that no one likes to listen to a slut.

But Donna didn't respond the way I thought she would. She didn’t yell or curse. She didn't just glare at use and walk away slamming the door on the way out. She didn't even huff in dismay. Nope, Donna did nothing of the sort. No, she looks us both in the eye and smiled with genuine happiness. It was freaking me out how calm she was being.

“It's nice to see the two of you together like this.” She walked into the room and dropped her bags, which I didn't realize she had, on the table. “I mean even if both of you hate the idea, the more your together like that, the more likely you can have a happy accident and Anita will get pregnant.”

I forced myself to sigh instead of shuddering in revulsion at that word being used in relation to me and Edward, “Donna we weren't...”

She glared at me cutting my protest short, “Don't lie to me!” I guess she was upset, but she was willing to overlook our 'relationship' since she wanted a baby more than she wanted a monogamous fiancé, soon to be husband. This did not, however, stop the snare of anger and hate from crossing her face. “What!?! You expect me to believe that you just tripped and fell on top of each other!?! I am not stupid!” With that she stormed out of the kitchen.

We were both silent as we stared after her.

I looked at Edward to find him looking at me as well. I couldn't read any emotion in his face or body language and for some reason that made me burst out laughing. I mean really!?! How much bad luck can one person have! Donna would never believe that I came here for a break from the drama at home and that we literally fell into that position due to sheer luck, or lack thereof, just in time for her to walk in. I mean really? This is the vacation I came for? Donna pushing me and Edward to have a baby while we're trying to find some amazingly elusive terrorist somewhere in the world!?! Oh! And all the while I'm still trying to find out what's wrong with me and how I can fix the rift I made between me the boys, and/or **if** I want to fix it. I couldn't stop the laughter. God, the irony is killing me! I come to relax and run from my problems but instead they are multiplied by ten. Total Bullshit.

Through my hilarity I can see Edward watching me with the same blank expression he had when Donna had run from the room. I'm not quite sure what got me to calm but I think it was Edwards calm demeanor and sturdiness that he displayed by being his usual sociopathic self.

When I was once again in control of myself I gasped in some much needed air, causing me to yawn (huge). Damn I'm tired. Edward stood and offered me a hand. If it was anyone else I wouldn't take it since they would think me weak, but with Edward I am always secure in my badass-ness. I took his hand and he pulled me up with considerably more force than necessary. I think he was still under the impression that what had caused me to fall was still a problem. The extra propulsion sent me straight into his chest. Before I could regain my balance and back away Donna walks back into the room.

*My God, I really have no luck...None...At all. What so ever...*

Donna glares at us once more, before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. Then she opens her eyes once more, putting on a neutral face, as she puts more bags on the table. It takes me a minute of staring at the bags to realize that they were Eco-friendly bags that Walmart and the other stores are selling now. She must shop for Edward, which makes sense since I can't imagine Edward strolling through a grocery store, or him keeping his refrigerator so appropriately stocked. With his job, bringing him all around the world and out of the house, plus spending so much time at Donna's house, his refrigerator should be a barren waste land. Which makes me wonder why Donna is stocking it in the first place? This doesn't add up.

“So, now that the two of you are done lying to me. Are you working on a job? Is that why Anita's here?” Donna asked as nonchalant as she could as she began sorting the food in the bags with her back to us. Her demeanor and positioning did not stop both Edward and I hearing the underlying sadness in her tone. I thought about arguing about us being together like that, trying to get her to understand that what she saw and thinks is all wrong. But Edward must have known what I was going to do since he tightened his arms around me and I could feel the unspoken warning. The warning also shocked me since we were still locked in, what probably seems likes, a lovers embrace. I quickly extracted myself from Edward almost tripping over my feet in my haste. My mind was speeding through thoughts at a hundred miles an hour and I was still confused. Edward is the most astute person that I know. Even if I missed Donna coming in, twice, he should have heard her. No, not should have, I know for a God damn fact that he heard her. Neither time did she enter was he surprised by her arrival. But that still doesn't answer why he continued to lie on top of me. Why did he keep me in such an embrace when he helped me up? And that was another thing! Did he purposely pull me into him so it would look like more than it was? But if he did then why would he? He hates the thought of her thinking of us as an item as much as I do! Maybe even more!!! So, why? Why was he doing this? And why the hell did it take me so long to realize what he was doing? I think that it's time for the two of us to have another heart-to-heart. A very **long** heart-to-heart.

Edward must have seen the accusation in my eyes because he let down some of his shields, the plea for me to go along with whatever he was doing clear in his eyes. I don't want to. I just know that nothing good can come out of it so I really, really don't, but Edward does not beg, or plead, unless it’s important. He also knows my limits and which buttons are off limits to being pushed; so, as much as I want to punch him in the face for doing this I give him a slight nod, using my eyes to convey that we are going to have a conversation, very very, soon. He let out a relieved breath as I move back into his personal space, ready to play the mistress for when Donna turns around. Bleh. Long fucking conversation...


	4. Friends...

Chapter 4

Donna continued to slowly remove the items of her bags, “The two of you are awfully quite. Is the job top secret or something?” Her little joke fell flat since we could both hear the strain and need to know in her voice. If I was just here for fun, I think Donna would flip the fuck out. Us 'messing around' during a life threatening case was one thing. Calling me over right underneath her nose for a little fun was another.

“The government has asked me to look into a... matter. They gave me the freedom to assemble the team that I would need and since magic seems to be involved I had asked Anita to come help.” Edward answered all matter of fact-ly. “That and it seems that it's going to get rather dangerous and I would like to have Anita at my back.” It always amazed me how Edward could lie so smoothly. I mean the majority of the information was the absolute truth, but him calling me was a total lie. I had come on my own and he knew it, but I guess he really wanted to keep up the image of us having a more intimate relationship then we really did. I mean think of how this looks to Donna? She probably thinks that he's secretly called me for help on other missions and that each time we ended up in the sack doing the horizontal tango. Then again, she thought that before now, so I guess this isn't much of a shock to her now is it? Damn it! Why is Edward playing this game? What is he trying to do? I let out a frustrated sigh. I am way too tired for this shit.

Donna's movement had slowed considerably when Edward mentioned the government hiring him and I could understand why. It's not every day that our government goes to outside sources to handle a problem. And as everyone knows, when the government is involved the situation is either out of control, extremely dangerous, or both. Generally it's both. She turned slowly, her confusion and fear so obvious that it hung in the air like a perfume.

“Ted...” she paused, head down, trying to think of the best way to pose her question. “How dangerous is this?” She finished finally looking at us full on with her face filled to the brim with concern. The odd thing about her reaction was that she was concerned about both of us...I would say equally. I didn't quite know what to think of that.

Edward took a hesitant step toward Donna and from that alone I knew she was seeing Ted in all his glory. “I'll admit that it is considerably more dangerous than my other jobs, so I would say... extremely.” Edward finished in his awe-shucks good old boy voice. I saw Donna's eye widen in fear. Great job Edward. Jeez, he could not be any more comforting to his fiancé. Please sense the sarcasm; I mean really? Then again no one ever claimed that Edward was the comforting type, or one to hold back the truth for others sensibilities. I decided that now was a good time for me to jump in.

“It will be dangerous Donna, which is why both Edward and I are taking extra precautions and have enlisted more back-up than we usually do. We want to finish this thing and come back to our respective homes safe and sound. Neither of us is going to take any unnecessary risks, I can promise you that.” And I could too. Both of us wanted to get this done and get home in one piece. Where my home might be at the end of this is still kind of up in the air but I'll solve my problem somehow; one way or another.

Donna's apprehension was considerably lessened by my little speech and she gave us a slight smile. “Okay...” She looked straight at me, “Keep him safe for me. I have feeling that between the two of you, Ted is much more likely to push his luck.”

At that I smiled genuinely. Yes, Ted was very likely to be the one to push his luck, but then again, so was I. Since I'm a girl Donna believes that I would be the voice of reason, but more often than not it's the other way around. Edward is the one making me think before I act and stops me from make life threatening mistakes. Stereotypes are funny that way.

“We'll do what we can.”

She nodded, “That's all I can ask...” She then paused for a while staring at me as if she was deciding whether or not to say something. I just stood there waiting, if she wanted to speak she would. Finally she came to her decision with a sharp nod to herself. “Anita…I know when I came in it seemed like I was angry, and I was, seeing something and knowing something are two completely different things. I’m trying to accept Ted as he is and it’s difficult but I wanted you to know…” She paused trying to gather her thoughts, “I don’t hate you,” Her face flushed a little, “I actually admire you quite a bit, I was just processing you and Ted, sorry, Edward being together. I was okay with it…” I raised a brow at that; she didn’t look okay with it. She saw my skepticism and smiled “I really was Anita, what made me mad were the lies…” She frowned, “Don’t lie to me. I don’t allow Ted to do so and that extends to you, if we’re going to do this and you’re going to be a part of our family than no lies.”

Usually someone demanding things from me pisses me off but I understand her; she’s just trying to protect her family and her sanity. It might be true that what she believes is going on is wrong but in her eyes it’s truth so if she needs me to lie to her then so be it; although for the most part I’ll just pull a Edward and just remain silent whenever the subject arises. So I just agreed with her, now knowing that agreeing is not the same as admitting to anything. “I promise Donna,” I replied, “I hate people lying to me too, so I get it. But I want you to understand that there will be times that I cannot or will not give you the whole truth, and you have to be willing to let it go.”

She stared at the wall for a moment, “I understand…I do and I expect nothing more than what you can and are willing to give.” She took in a big breathe and let it out slowly as she smiled for real. “Tomorrow, if you guys aren’t totally busy I’m bring the kids over to visit.” With that she turned to the groceries continuing to put them in their appropriate spots as she chattered non-stop about Peter and Becca and how much fun we’ll have now that I’m in town and blah blah blah. I just looked at Edward through her continuous monologue and he understood my ‘you really deal with this’ look, he countered it with an ‘It makes me happy look’ followed by a ‘you have no room to complain Ms. I’m taking a break from my annoying men’. I countered that with a ‘at least they don’t talk non-stop’ look, which he replied with a ‘REALLY?’ to which I conceded an ‘I see your point’ roll of the eyes.

Donna convinced us to watch a movie with her since she had extra time to spare after she had finished putting away the groceries. Apparently the kids were visiting their grandparents and so she had the whole night to herself. I actually think she wanted to spend it with Ted but my unannounced arrival had ruined that for her. I would have been pissed but apparently Donna was taking it in stride. When we sat down to watch her movie of choice she made me sit with both her and Ted on the three seated couch with Edward sitting in the middle and both of us on either side. I would rather had not sat this close to one of the most dangerous, if not THE most dangerous, men in the world to watch…Jesus… she put in _The_ fucking _Notebook_. Ronnie made me watch that damn thing a hundred times at least! It’s a good movie but after time five of seeing it I wanted to kill myself. I was tempted to demand movie change but I decided that I had ruined enough of Donna’s day already; I can stand one hour and twenty-four minutes of pure torture.

Why I thought that I would get a rest at Edward’s house is a mystery to me; then again I already admitted to myself that I came here to be relaxed and my real self and really the only place to do that IS with Edward. So I sucked it up and spent the night with Donna and Edward watching a movie that I could, reluctantly, quote ten times over. Afterwards Donna tried to convince us to go out walking, but I claimed fatigue, which wasn’t actually a claim and more of a fact, and retired to the room I had when I had stayed previously.

I quickly unpacked, well it couldn't be anything but quick with only a penguin in my bag, and went to take a shower. I didn't wash my hair since I felt it was still reasonably clean and it would take too long; plus sleeping on wet hair is very uncomfortable. As I was wrapped in my towel I realized...I have no night clothes, which left me with a decision. I can either go ask Edward for a shirt in my towel in-front of Donna; or I can just get one and go to sleep. If I just get one than if Donna sees me in the morning before I change than she'll think we did the dirty. If I ask in-front of her, although embarrassing, she would know exactly why I had his shirt on and basically nothing else. Truthfully it was a no brainier. I will turn red with embarrassment but in the long run Donna would leave me alone.

I secured my towel and went in search of the pseudo-married couple. I followed the low murmuring of conversation to the back porch. They were sitting on a bench; Edward leaning back with his eyes closed and Donna resting her head on his shoulder. It was a cozy scene and I really didn’t want to break it up but I needed a shirt so I can sleep. “Uhhhh…. Edward?” I asked quietly when there was a pause in their conversation to gain their attention. Both turned too looked at me and of course my face turned bright red, just like I knew it would. When Donna saw me in the towel looking like a perfectly cooked red beat she looked shocked for a moment and started giggling. “You have no night clothes.” Edward stated showing his complete understanding of the situation. I nodded as I held the towel a little tighter to me and averted my eyes to the cactus in his back yard. Donna’s giggles finally calmed down enough for her to speak coherently, “what size are you?” I shook my head, she may be taller but she was all around smaller than me, I would not fit her cloths unless it was 3 sizes too big for her. “I won’t fit your clothes” I said glancing at her before turning to the cactus once more. Donna took a breath to say something else but was cut off by Edwards “Top left draw are some old shirts and the draw below that have some drawstring boxers…” Before anyone can say anything else I just nodded and ran into the house.

I quickly made my way to Edward’s room to raid his dresser and ran to my room. I did not want to have another chance occurrence with Donna, screw that. I locked my door and finished preparing for bed as I thought of the boys and the incessant worrying I could feel through the shields… Okay, Okay I was being mean and I knew it, but at the moment if I let down my shields to answer them I would not be pleasant company. In truth I think that all the restraint that I have around them constantly made me retain seeds of resentment that grew into an over whelming weed of hate that refuses to leave. So I just continued to hold my shields in place, only letting enough so Damian can stay sane and functioning. That thought sent a bolt of unease through my body, I don’t like being so in-charge of a person like this. The boys knew this but not really. They think it’s my moral fiber that is making me uneasy with the idea but it’s not that, not even in the slightest. What they don’t understand, no… what they don’t know is that I have no real morals, Hell for the most part I don’t feel much.

What’s ironic is that the best actor and the one with the least morals of all between me, Nicky and Edward is me. Everyone thinks it is Nicky and that my conscious is keeping him in line but that’s not it at all. It’s the combined force of the boys in my head and me suppressing myself that keeps him in line. I’m so good at suppressing myself that it leaked through my shields and I began to suppress him as well, that was all. Richard always thinks that Edward is a bad influence for me, Claudia too for that matter, but the one who is usually the bad influence is me; Edward usually steers me clear of my, not the best, choices.

The sound of the door shutting down stairs snapped me out of my mental reprieve and I continued to prepare for bed. All I heard in the house as I turned down the covers and put Sigmund between the sheets was the sound of random movements below, no talking or conversation; which makes me believe that Donna had left for the night, probably hoping that Edward and I do the deed with no protection. I settled into bed, turning off the light. I took in a deep breath, slowly let it out, snuggled Sigmund to my chest, closed my eyes and waited for sleep to come. And then I waited some more, and then some more, and then a little longer, until an hour had passed and I couldn’t take the waiting any more. No one ever said that waiting was my strong suit. It sucked that I couldn’t sleep, I dead tired and could barely think straight but my brain would not shut down and shut up. It felt like I was yelling at myself to do something but I had no idea what it was I was supposed to do.

I threw my cover back and sat for a while, staring at the door to my room, resisting the urge to leave it and… and what? What did I want to do? God, I didn’t want to think about this right now I just wanted to sleep. A quick knock on the door and Edwards’s voice on the other side startled me out of my thoughts, “You awake?”

“Yeah…”

He opened the door, although how he did that so quickly and quietly even though I had locked it previously is a mystery to me, and walked right in like he owned the place (although he did, but you know what I mean; he didn’t even ask if he could come in). Usually I would be annoyed by his bold endeavor to invade my privacy but right now, at this moment, I welcomed the distraction. 

“You can’t sleep?” It was odd how he asked that, it was more of a statement than a question.

“No…” I patted the bed, indicating that he should take a seat next to me. “My brain won’t shut up…” I finished as he sat down turning his body to face me by putting on leg bent on the bed. I did the same so we were face to face my back against the headboard his against the foot board.

“What are you thinking of that you can’t get out of your head?”

I sighed, “That’s the thing, I don’t know,” Edward allowed me to see the question of ‘how could you not know’ floating in his eyes. “I just don’t, it’s like a ghost in my mind that is trying to say something to me but it has no voice. I can only get feelings and I feel restless.” I saw something move through Edwards eyes but it went too quickly for me to identify, and also the light from the hallway was all we had so the lighting made his already hard to see his flash of emotion almost impossible. “What else do you get from it?” I shook my head and shrugged at a loss for words. “Let me ask you another question…” Edward began “…when did you start feeling this way?”

I took a moment to really think about that. When did I start to feel this way? When did I start to feel so hollow and restless? I thought back to last week when I began to sleep away from the boys; no that would be when I acted to gain space not when I began to feel it. I thought back to a month ago when I finished my last case with the police, went home and for the first time felt that I didn’t want to be there; but was that the time I really began to feel detached? I thought back to a few months before that when I dreamed I was in a dessert and I was looking for someone. I didn’t know who I was searching for and why but I was and it was imperative that I found them and then I woke, looked around at the boys in the room, and had to get away. I think that was the very first time I really felt it. The need for space, the need for more, a more that the boys weren’t capable of.

“About five months ago…” I said after my lengthy pause.

I looked at Edward once more and I saw the spark in his eyes again. I think it was the same one but I can’t be sure, but what I did know was that what I was saying was sparking something in him. What was it making him think of I don’t know but it was bothering him and usually I would push but I really was tired and for some reason speaking with Edward settled my mind enough that I felt I could really sleep.

“I’m tired”

Edward nodded, understanding the underlying message. He stood and watched me snuggle back into bed with my toy penguin and then he continued to stare, in no way preparing to leave the room so I can sleep in private. After a few minutes of this I finally had to ask. “What are you doing Edward?” He was so quite that for a second I thought he wasn’t going to answer me and I was getting ready to ignore him and sleep anyway when he responded with “Anita…” I looked at him wondering when he was going to continue but willing to give him the time to think of what he wanted to say as it was obviously he needed to say.

It took a minute before he finally made his decision “Anita would you mind sharing a bed with me?”

I froze. WHAT? Why would Edward want to share a bed with me when he has a house that has a perfectly capable master bedroom that he can have all his own? “Now?” He nodded. “Why?” I asked. He looked at the wall for a moment before turning his eyes back my way “Because I have been restless for the past five months as well but when we’re close the anxiety leaves and I can rest.” He shrugged, “It might just be because I don’t have to act around you but…” He trailed off.

I watched him, seeing (for the first time) I saw Edward uncomfortable and I didn’t like seeing it like I thought I would. And that right there was the determining factor as to whether I laugh in his face or say okay as he obviously needed this reprieve. As I was not one to let Edward suffer if I can prevent it my answer, although I was still totally confused as to why he wanted this, was obvious. “Okay Edward” I said quietly but Edward heard and I saw the tension, which I didn’t see before, leave his frame. He then went to the hallway turned off the light, shut the door and locked it once again, and began to undress down to his underwear, slid into the bed next to me and closed his eyes. I looked at him for a minute, told myself to get over the awkwardness of it all and closed my eyes to sleep as well. I can question Edward about his uncharacteristic closeness he’s been displaying since I showed tomorrow, but right now we were both tired and we had more important things to worry about like world changing missions and a woman wanting to fill my womb… Yeah, such light thoughts to go to sleep with in my head. Sense the sarcasm? No? Well you should.


	5. Dreams

Chapter 5

What bothers me is that even in my dreams I can feel the boys trying to get through my shields and it’s tiresome to not only have to feel it but to have to think about. Why can’t I have worry free dreams like other people, I can’t even fully rest in my sleep and that’s complete bull.

I took a breath, not really as I was in my dreams at the moment it was more of a dream breath, let it out and pushed them and all negative feelings are far as I possibly can from the forefront of my mind. Immediately a scene began to form around me. I had been having this dream constantly for the past five months and it always started the same and ended the same. It was the dessert, and just like before I was looking for someone. Now usually I would continue to look for a while, find no one and then wake but this time the format changed a little. This time when I came to the point when I should have awaked I didn’t, instead I continued to look but more slowly this time as I felt something trying to pull me somewhere. It didn’t feel like it was dangerous and that I should leave; if anything it felt as if it was calling to me. Pulling me towards it, and although I thought it was weird I went willingly towards the pull and followed the invisible string until I found a dead tree incased in ice. Which, by the way, I found very odd as I was in the middle of a dessert that felt to be 102 degrees (which I also found odd as I wasn’t sweating, than again it is a dream) and I was looking at a dead tree encased in a solid, thick (but perfectly see through) block of ice. I stared and it felt like the tree was staring back at me, which was a little creepy. This continued for some time, the urge to pick through the ice so I can touch the tree with my bare hand becoming an over whelming drive before I couldn’t help it anymore, I had to touch the tree. I don’t know how I meant to get through the ice but it didn’t matter; the moment my hand touched the ice I woke to the sun shining in my eyes and a heart beat in my ear.

It took a second for my brain to reboot and to realize that the heart beat I was hearing belonged to a shirtless, only wearing underwear at the moment, Edward. An Edward, who like most guys, had a morning erection staring me in the face. Yup, I need to move from this position to one that might be slightly less embarrassing for me. But movement meant waking Edward (he’s a lighter sleeper than I am) and with the current position I’m in I didn’t want to wake him. Sadly, or fortunately I guess you can say, the option of how I should go about this situation was solved by the banging of the door down stairs and Donna yelling “TED! ANITA! WAKY WAKY SLEEPY HEADS! COME DOWN AND SAY HI TO THE KIDS!”

Her not so subtle ploy to inform us that the children were with her this time around was met with both Edward and I jumping out of the bed, our guns at the ready at my closed door. When our brains processed that it was not a threat, just slightly crazy pseudo-wife Donna we both put the safety back on our guns and stared at each other for a minute before I couldn’t hold it in any longer and laughed. At least I didn’t have to find a way to get discretely out of bed. Geez my life is so freaking weird. Edward shared my mirth with a lighting of the eyes and a small smile before he stood, put on the clothes he had worn the previous night and pointed to the dresser right next to me on the left. “You left some clothes the last time you were here. They were ruined so I had them replaced.” I smiled at him gratefully and went for the draw as he went for the door.

I had the clothes in my hand and was closing the draw when Edward was suddenly in front of me crouching down to be eye level with me. I jumped back dropping the clothing I was holding and stared at him. “Uhhhhh……”

He smirked, “Thank you Anita.” He said it with such sincerity that, although I wanted to be, I wasn’t annoyed or anything by his completely unnecessary antics, I was just happy that I could do something to help him relax. I mean I should be annoyed since he could have just said it from the door instead of scaring the shit out of me, but I have accepted long ago that Edward was who he was and he would do what he wanted. If he wanted to startle me than he was going to do it and enjoy whatever reaction he got from it, even if I threatened to shoot him; so I find that getting upset is a useless endeavor where Edwards involved.

So instead I smiled. “No problem…”

His smirk became a full blown smile and then he stood and left the room leaving my door open enough that I saw him heading towards his room instead of the stairs. I guess going down to meet Donna in the clothes you wore last night was not a good idea. On that thought I should probably get a move on, I would rather meet Donna down stairs than for her to come up stairs looking for me.

I quickly gathered my fallen clothing from the floor as I heard Donna continued to noisily do whatever it is she was doing with Peter and Becca down stairs. I quickly shut the door and put on the new underwear, apparently when Edward replaced clothing he did it completely and included the underwear as well, and my trade mark black shirt with their matching black pants. I quickly strapped on the few weapons that I came with and quickly put my hair in a loose pony tail to keep it out of the way. Sure a few strands came out but whatever I wasn’t trying to win a beauty contest. 

I made a quick stop in the bathroom to use the facilities and take a minute to freshen my breath before heading down to the kitchen.

By time I came down both Edward and the family were well into the breakfast making stage with which I will have nothing to do with. So I went straight for the coffee, that I’m positive was made by Edward, put in a little cream and sugar and quickly removed myself from the frenzy to sit at the table and calmly drink my caffeinated beverage. Ahh… Heaven. Now slightly more awake I became aware of my surroundings and I realized that everyone was staring at me. Donna looked stunned, while Peter shut his expression down the moment we made eye contact (weird). Becca was looking at me like I was a princess that just made all her dreams come true and Edward was giving me a contemplative Edward/Ted look. I brought my coffee closer to me as if that would form a protective barrier from me and the odd staring people who were still looking. After about a minute I couldn’t take it anymore, “WHAT?!?” Yes it sounded bitchy and yes I said it a little louder than necessary but they were freaking me out with the expressions and the staring.

But my impatience woke them out of their stupor propelled them into action; we’ll it got the others moving, but Edward was stilling giving me that considering look. I narrowed my eyes and glared at him trying to intimidate a response. That, of course, did not work out well as he had ample practice ignoring me throughout the years. Finally he gave his very annoying ‘I know something you don’t know’ smile and turned back to help finish the food.

I just sat there staring at everyone with blatant suspicion as they ignored me and continued their morning routine. After a while I just decided to ignore the event completely and to focus on relaxing. I knew the moment the family left Edward and I were getting right to business. He still had to show me the leads they had –leads my ass, he’ll be showing me how incompetent our government is more like it- and we needed to really think about how we’re going to prepare for the mission and where in the world we should start. I felt that I would be seeing the others of our little blind suicide mission latter tonight. Which left me these few moments of peace before everything went to hell; which, let’s face it, whenever Edward and I work together everything always goes to hell. It’s best just to accept that it’s going to happen.

I closed my eyes falling into a light mediation, where I can still hear everything happening around me but not attached to it by anything but the hearing. I could feel the boys more when I did this which is why I generally avoided it but not today. I needed a clear mind and this was the best way to do it. Plus I have to speak to the boys at some point especially now that I’m going to be gone probably longer than intended and in way more danger than I foresaw, but I didn’t want them to know where I was and what I was doing so only a very smidge of my shields were lowered so we could speak only; the equivalent of a mind telephone. 

“ _Ma-petite_! Are you well? Where are you?” – _Jean-Claude_

“God damn it Anita you can’t just disappear like that! Where are you? Did someone take you again?” – _Richard_

“Anita are you okay?” – _Damian_

“When are you coming home?” – _Nathaniel_

A mind phone conference anyway. I let them all talk over each other for a moment so they can get their initial hysteria out. I know that I sound flippant, but at this moment I couldn’t care less. It’s shitty of me as their just worried about me but I really couldn’t deal with it at the moment and until I can figure out what is wrong with me, this impatient feeling with them will just have to continue for now.

“Stop…” I said it quietly; didn’t demand it or say it forcefully, but it was enough for them to stop and listen. “I’m fine and will continue to be so, but I needed time away. I’ll keep in touch and I wasn’t planning on being gone for long, but now I have no idea what time I’ll be able to make it back to you all safely. So for now just continue on as usual.” I stopped, and though I wanted to, I didn’t close my shields yet, they had questions and I owed it to them to answer the best I can. 

“ _Ma petite_ are you in a different territory? Is it dangerous what you are involved in? Is it police business that has drawn you away or something….other?” – _Jean-Claude_

“I am, and with the job I have I will probably be hopping territory for a while. It is completely dangerous, but then again when is my job not, and this job is…other.”

“ _Ma petite_ you know that you cannot enter others territory unless it is police business! Not without negotiations with the masters of those states! Also what are you going to do for food? Let me send guards and tell where you plan to go, please _ma petite_.” – _Jean-Claude_

“I have to agree with fang face on this one Anita you need to have food at least and safe passage with not only the vampires but the wolves and all the other animal groups. It’s not like the past when you could just do what you want. I know you want space but this is necessary. Plus you said this wasn’t official police business, this means that guards can be sent to you with not repercussions from the police.” – _Richard_

“No guards, although it is not police business it is official business. Don’t ask for details for I can’t disclose that. I’ll have to find a way around the masters of the cities as no one can know where we’re going and where we’ve been. I’ll do a masking spell for myself to cloak my powers and my scent. It will be annoying to do and completely draining for me in the beginning but I don’t really have a choice at the moment. For food… I’ll figure it out along the way, same with the animals inside before we leave for the job, but no one can know what we’re doing and where I am. I’m sorry guys but that’s all I can say and do due to the situation.” 

“Anita, who are you with?” – _Nathaniel_

“Yes, Anita that was my question. You’ve said we, we’re, and we’ve. Who are you with?” – _Damian_

I mentally sighed, this was going to be fun. Sarcasm, gotta love it. “What I can tell you is that I’m with Edward, and yes he was the one who invited me. I’m working with a team, all professionals and all called in by the person who asked me to join them, Edward in this case.”

“Anita I don’t like that you’re with Edward, every time the two of you are together you end up in the hospital or dying. Do you really have to do this, or are you just doing it because you need space? If it’s the latter than come home and have all the space you need or better yet you could go to Tennessee and visit Marianne and stay there for a while.” – _Nathaniel_

I took a moment to sort my thought so I can say exactly what I needed to say without them learning anything new about me or the case. “I need to do this Nathaniel. I promised Edward and I never go back once I give it.” Okay that was a stretch of the truth but they didn’t need to know that. “I need this, not just because it is beneficial to everyone, which it completely is, but because I need to do it for myself.” 

“Can’t you not do it? You said they asked so did you not volunteer for it ma petite? Is there not something else you could do that is possibly less dangerous?” – _Jean-Claude_

“I did volunteer but this is not something that you volunteer for and then back out of. I have to finish this and it benefits everyone for me to work with Edward and his team to accomplish the job. And no, even if I could back out what we’re doing is exactly what I need.”

“Wait, who are you working for? I mean who recruited… Edward?” – _Nathaniel_

I was quiet for a moment trying to decide whether I should tell them anything more, but in the end I decided to tell them as much as Edward told Donna. “We we’re hired by the government to take care of a situation. That is all I can say. Do not search for more information about our mission as you’ll put us in even more danger than we’ll already be in. Instead, just relax and I’ll continue to stay in contact with you guys” 

The boys started talking all at once again, but I was distracted by Edward telling Becca not to bother me, that I would eat when I was ready. That was my queue to reap it up with the boys. I slowly started closing the small opening of my shield, “I have to go…I’ll contact you guys before we start in earnest, but heed my warning about looking into this; with every question you seek to answer, no matter how under the radar you try to do it, endangers me and everyone working with me. Just go about your day as if nothing happened and I’ll contact at least one of you later.” With that I closed my shields fully blocking out their arguments and comments. 

Once I was back to the peaceful quite of my own thoughts once more I took a moment to relax and then opened my eyes. Edward was eating and ignoring me, but Donna and the kids we’re staring at me, awkwardly as if they wanted to start eating but were unsure if they should. It was then that I realized that they thought I was praying. Pssh, I wish that was what I was doing. Would have been a better conversation. 

I picked up my fork and dug into the plate that was, apparently, placed in front of me while I was busy talking to the boys. When I started so did Donna and the kids, clearly relieved that I was sticking to normal behaviors now. 

“So, Anita…” Donna began after a minute of me and the kids enjoying our breakfast. I could feel the boys pushing on my shields wanting to continue our conversation, but I just added more power to my already powerful shields and paid attention to Donna. “How long before you guys have to leave?”

I immediately looked to Edward as I still did not have the entire situation yet and could not make that call, plus Edward was the head of his investigation anyway, all of this was his call. He looked up, stared at me for a moment as he was calculating the amount of info we had; how much time (or little in this case) to find the faction before the weapons are used, how long it would take for Reaver, Jackson, Imp, or Grimm to come up with possible leads, how long it would take to collect and transfer all the tools we’re going to need, and how long it would take him to make contacts in different places to supply us. It took a while, long enough for everyone to stop eating and to look between us trying to judge what was going through our minds. When Edward finally spoke it came as no surprise as everyone quickly realized that the answer was only known to Edward, not me. “I figure we should be heading out tomorrow or the day after the latest.” He focused on me, “Grimm and Imp told me they had a few possibilities. Reaver has a lead but has yet to come up with anything from it but he thinks it’s promising. I’ll give you what you need after you eat and then you have a few hours to gather what you need and to start brushing up on what you’re sketchy in.”

Donna nodded as if she expected this but added to his list of necessities “And of course in all that you both are going to take a few hours to enjoy the day at the fair with us. It’s the last day the fair’s going to be in town and Ted promised to go before all this. Isn’t that right Ted?” I couldn’t see her face but I felt her, if you don’t agree you’re going to be one miserable person for the short time you’re here and when you get back. Of course Edward not wanting that quickly agreed, “Of course honey pot. Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” He had is good old boy smile on which calmed Donna but made me gag.


	6. Fairs...in Slow Motion

Chapter 6

We finished breakfast in good humor, well everyone else did. Edward kept looking at me throughout the breakfast randomly whenever no one was paying any real attention and it was starting to freak me out. Since I had arrived here Edward had been acting weird. For whatever reason he was much more touchy feely with me and definitely paying more than a little attention to me; first was the weirdness of last night and now with the staring. I was feeling that it was time for the two of use to have a nice, long, conversation about his new attitude. Sadly it wasn’t going to happen right now. Right after the breakfast mess was cleaned up Donna rushed all of us to the front door to the car, almost as if she suspected that we would try to get out of doing the whole fair thing with the family. By the look of Peter, I knew if I really did want to get out of going I would have an ally in him, but I wasn’t going to ruin the day for Donna. She needed this day to secure her mind around the fact that not only was her fiancée about to be in danger but he was going with the woman she believes he’s screwing on the side. This would be the same woman that she also wants him to have a baby with and so she is probably stressing herself out about whether or not we might be putting a potential baby in harm’s way. She needed this day and I wasn’t going to be the one that took it from her.

We all piled into Teds hummer, his still completely dirty, barely see through the windows, hummer. Edward and Donna sat in the front while Peter and I sat in the back with Becca in the middle of us. Donna tried to keep the enthusiasm up and even managed to get me to laugh twice; which was a feat as I was starting to get really annoyed with the boys pushing at my shields demanding attention. Edward pulled up to the fair and I was suitably amazed. I was thinking the fair would be in a small lot with a few rides and some food stalls. Apparently I haven’t been going to the right types of fairs. This one looked like an amusement park, it had so many rides. I couldn’t see where it ended and the parking lot was packed which was amazing as it was only 10:00 in the morning. 

“They have this every year?” I asked in disbelief to the car’s occupants.

“Every year…” Edward answered looking at me in the rear view mirror as he put the car in park.

Donna took off her seat belt and turned to look at me, “You see why we come every year?” her eyes shown with excitement.

I nodded in wonder as I stared at the rides, “I’ve never been to a fair, and actually I’ve never been to an amusement park either.”

Everyone looked at me, shocked. Well everyone but Edward, he had that considering face on again. “Never?” Becca asked completely amazed at the concept that someone could go their whole life never being to an amusement park. I nodded as I looked back to the, a little, intimidating fair. “Have you ever ridden a roller coaster?” Peter asked. I shook my head “I’ve never even seen a real one until now.” I saw Peter shake his head out of the corner of my eye as I continued to watch the cars move along the rails of the roller coaster, mesmerized by the movement and the fact that I might even be on that. I heard Edward chuckle, snapping my out of my fascination to look at him in time to see him smiling as he turned to leave the confines of the car. I rolled my eyes at his amusement and opened my door and exited the car as well, turning to help Becca down.

As we headed to the entrance, Peter and Donna were talking about the various rides that I just **had** to get on. It took a good thirty minutes just to get into the fair, but by then it was unanimously agreed upon, as we waited everyone –except me- got into the discussion, that we should start with the twister in the back of the fair and slowly work our way up to the front with the free fall. Edward had a bet going as to whether I would actually get on the free fall. He was very sure that I would say hell no, and I was determined to prove him wrong about that…maybe, it really depends on the ride.

With our tickets in hand and all access passes we walked to the back of the park and mapped out the rides we would do with the very convenient map the fairgrounds gave as we walked in. For the next five hours I had laughed, screamed, and threated more than I had in the past year, and it was all in good fun; although when it came to the free fall I told everyone not only no, but hell no.

“Why? It’s a really fun ride!” Donna said as she held my arm trying to stop me from walking away. Edward was laughing his ass off at my blatant refusal. He knew that I not only didn’t like heights, but to be purposely dropped to the ground and needing to rely on a machine to stop me from hitting the ground was a _fuck that_ moment for me. “Donna I swear to God, you try to get me on that death trap I’ll attack you.” Peter and Becca were staring at me in amused fascination. They had never seen me refuse to do something because I was scared and usually that would propel me to do it but screw that shit I can barely get in a plane without freaking out and I can’t see everything. To be held by nothing but some poles above the ground only to be stopped by compressed air was a _fuck that shit bitch, go to hell_ moment, but I replied to Donna’s pleas in a nicer tone. “Donna, I. Hate. Heights.”

She looked at me incredulously, “But you get on airplanes all the time, and you rode the other rides!”

I shook my head “I can barely get on airplanes without flipping the fuck out and that’s only because I get on a plane only for life and death emergencies and I can’t see the ground, or feel the air on my face.” I pulled a little more forcefully on my arm, dragging Donna a few feet towards the exit. “Yes, I rode the other rides because it had more security and it was closer to the ground.” I took in a deep breath, “I rode rides and faced my fear the best I can today, and I’m done. Time to go get some real food, those funnel cakes weren’t very healthy.”

By this time Edward had tears in his eyes and was bent over trying to breath. Peter and Becca were starting to laugh as well. Donna was looking at me like I was crazy, but was soon drawn in by the amusement that Edward just couldn’t seem to control and I was just about ready to punch him in the face. Then, for some reason I felt compelled to say that out loud, “I’m going to punch you Edward.” Donna’s eyes widened as did Becca’s and Peter looked speculative, but none of their amusement was lost. Edward started to calm and looked at me, his eyes lit with humor and relaxation “I know…” I shook my head rolling my eyes in exasperation, and turned towards the exit, knowing that the others were following this time. 

When we were all in the car, after taking fifteen minutes to find it, something that could have gone faster if Edward had helped instead of staying amused silence as Becca and Donna looked for it. Then again it would have helped if I had given my help as well but I was busy glaring at Edward and him looking back with his condescending smirk. Peter was busy watching the battle wills we were displaying to give any advice to the two girls looking for the car.

I was still annoyed at Edward but I was happy with the day so far. I may not get the vacation that I had planned but this was a good relaxing time, with nothing more to worry about than having fun and silly bickering. I think even Edward was happy we got to do this, I mean he’s a douche but he was more happy and carefree than he had been when I arrived here.

I was brought out of my reprieve to realize that Donna was turned in her seat talking to me.

“What do you want to eat Anita?”

I shrugged, “I’m not very picky, just about anything but Mexican is good.” I said looking around to insure that everyone had their seatbelts on.

Donna smiled “I forgot that you didn’t like Mexican food.” She turned thoughtful for a moment before turning to Edward, or Ted or whatever. “Do you think that she’ll like that new place by your house that we went to that one time?” I kind of like that she referred to Edward about it instead of assuming that I’ll like something. I saw Edward think on it for a moment before nodding, “She’ll like it, but we don’t have to eat near the house.” At that Donna shook her head, “You guys have to get back to work and after we eat we should leave you to that. I actually hadn’t planned to be at the fair for as long as we were, but it was fun.” She turned to look at me, “I know you’re not big on the family thing but thank you for that.”

With that, the last of my annoyance disappeared and I smiled a real smile, “Your welcome, but really it was fun for me.” I chuckled, “Really I should be saying ‘thank you’ to you since you allowed me to do something I otherwise would have never done.” I looked at her with real sincerity, “So thank you.”

Donna looked startled like she was going to cry, but she held it in, thankfully, and smiled. She turned back to face forward and changed to topic to something more mundane, like her business growth and Peter and Becca’s education. For a time we got into a discussion about Becca’s future in dance and Peters accomplishments in karate, which seemed to embarrass them to no end. When they asked why I kept the conversation going I replied that they got to be amused with my embarrassment at the fair than I can enjoy theirs. At this Edward started to laugh again, since he was the only one that knew that I never let anything sit and if can get someone back, even for embarrassment, than I’m going to. Donna looked at Ted like he was crazy; she didn’t get why he was laughing so much, to her I wasn’t doing anything that was that funny. To combat his laughter she turned on the radio and the single worst song ever came out… _Slow Motion_ by Trey Songz. It’s not that I hate the song, I actually like it, but every time I hear this song it gets stuck in my head and won’t leave me alone. Edward knows this, and what does he do? Of course he turns it up, stopping Donna from turning it to his usual country station. I couldn’t control myself; I reached over the seat and smacked him in the head as hard as I dared since he was driving. He just laughed harder, the dick. What made it worse was that the song **just** started!

Everyone was looking between us completely confused, and that made me laugh and then I decided fuck it, I came here to relax so I started singing along.

_“…I know you got all dressed up for the club_

_Waiting on them to come pick you up_

_Baby, when I saw ya walking out the door_

_I just knew ya needed something more_

_Now whip it straight back to the crib_

_Finna give you something that you won't forget_

_[Pre-Hook 1]_

_Baby, I just wanna get you out them clothes_

_I just wanna see you dance in_

_[Hook]_

_Slow motion_

_We can take, we can take, we can take our time, baby_

_In slow motion_

_We can take, we can take, we can take our time, stay here_

_In slow motion…”_

At this point Edward decided to join in with me, which just made Donna and the kids bust out laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation. I started to get into it, which meant small movement dancing in the back near Becca’s, making her laugh harder. Donna and the kids looked between us throughout the song completely dumbfounded as to not only why we would know that song but also why we knew it enough to sing it so well. I think they were also surprised that not only could Edward sing but so could I as well. For two assassins we had some really nice pipes if I do say so myself, and I’m not being conceited. I have had people ask if I had professional training and if I ever thought about leaving my job for a career in the music field. The answer to that is a clear no but you know it never stops them from persisting that I should. It’s one of the reasons that I don’t sing out loud. Edward could hold a tune as well, and apparently could harmonize rather well, we sounded really good, like we practiced. We didn’t, but it sounded like we did. People always get so confused when they hear us as if killers should have no talent that’s considered acceptable in society.

Once the song ended and Edward turned down the music and turned it to his usual station, Peter was the first to recover and ask, “Why… Why do the two of you know that song, and so well too?!?” Edward and I shared an amused glance in the mirror as I answered “We were working a job where Ted had to act like a DJ for a party, they kept requesting _Slow Motion_ so much that we knew it by heart at the end of the night.” Edward shook his head smiling, “And for the next three days that we worked in that town every other request on the radio was _Slow Motion,_ well that and _Post to Be_. I think by the second day Anita just about screamed every time the song came on the radio, I had to stop her from going to the radio station and shooting the DJ.” He chuckled, “Now every time it comes on and Anita’s in the car I have to turn it up…”

We spent the rest of the car ride avoiding conversations about what the job was about, explaining that it was police business and not to be discussed. We went to the restaurant and had a very nice and relaxing time talking about everything and nothing. After an hour of good food, and the food was definitely good, we took the five minute ride back to the house where Donna and the kids took their leave, which couldn’t have been timed any better as both Grimm and Jackson called Edward one after another saying they found something. Edward called everyone and set up a meeting for an hour from now which would be around 6:30. As we waited Edward quietly sat on the couch waiting as I looked up some of the magic’s I wasn’t quite strong in, as well as a cloaking spell that would keep me safe in other territories. I had just gotten the spell down when I heard the first car come in the drive way before any normal human would. I looked up quickly, alerting Edward “Someone’s here…” He got up and walked to the door, reaching it just as Imp was about to knock. I turned back to the computer in my lap looking up information from my hard drive that I made years ago compiling all the magic that I run into and how it’s used.

I heard them both enter the room as I continued to look through the various pictures and notes that I made for myself. I felt Imp staring at me, but I had information to relearn and posturing with him hit the bottom of the necessity list. After a few minutes of him staring, trying to provoke a reaction from me I heard another car turning into the drive way. I looked up straight at Edward and gave a head tilt to the door, before going back to the notes. I felt the confusion radiating off of Imp as Edward walked to the front door, and once again opened it before Grimm could even knock. I felt Imp startle at that, realizing that Edward opened the door before he could knock, not because he was waiting for him, but that even with headphones on I heard him come in. Grimm and Edward came back to the living room with Imp and me and sat in wait. He had news but wisely wanted to only have to share it once everyone was here, so he stayed quite studying those in the room. This didn’t last long, only a minute or two later I was giving a nod again, sending him to the door to open it for the brothers, Jackson and Reaver, as they came together and it could only be them. They scanned the room, saw we were one short and immediately started socializing the other men. I could tell that they wanted to talk to me too but I had head phones on, and that stops many people from trying to talk to me. With all the seats now taken Edward came to stand by me, leaning on the arm of the chair. They didn’t talk to Edward, I guess being the man in charge kind of makes the underlings hesitate socialize with you. I felt the occasional glance in our direction but I ignored it, I had a lot to go over and I had no idea how long I would have do it before we got into the mission for real, and it was looking like it would start very soon. I heard the final arrival turn into the drive way and gave Edward a nudge on the thigh with my elbow, giving a slight tilt of the head to the front door without looking from the computer screen. He stood and went to bring in Slick; the last of us. I read the last of the spell I was studying, turned off the music, and closed the laptop just as they entered the room. It was time to get this show started. 


	7. Time to Get Serious

Chapter 7

Slick went to the corner of the room as Edward came back to sit on the arm of my chair. Imp was giving me an odd look, as he was the only one to witness my door warning system with Edward. The others were too busy to really think about how Edward knew they were at the door before they could announce their arrival. I think they assumed that he had a system in place, which he definitely did, to warn him of incoming intruders, the only thing is that they don’t know is that he only turns it on when he plans on relaxing. Which means it’s usually not on during the day.

Grimm brought me out of my thoughts by starting the conversation, “I was looking through some of my contacts all over, as we discussed previously. I found three main countries of concern that I believe we should start in: Russia, South Korea, and Africa.” He paused shifting position to get a better view of the room. “In each of these countries there have been strange sightings of glimpses of things being made in unidentified areas. This information was considered top secret in each country due to the situations surrounding the sightings. For every short view of the people working on the machine there was a black out quickly following in that area for a few minutes before it was restored. Each country had traced the blackout back to the people who have happened to view the people making the weapons. The only problem is that in each version people saw the people and the location in the clip would change.”

“Were you able to personally verify this or did they just tell you that?” Edward asked.

Grimm nodded his understanding of the importance of the question. “I got to view each one and compare them all side by side. We’re talking about a minimum of three different cells of people working on three different weapons. All seem to have some form of magic infused into them, although I am not an expert and would like The Executioner to look at it…” He looked at me and I gave a small nod to indicate my understanding and approval to his thinly veiled question. “But from what I saw it looked like there was a man preforming magic in each and there were, what I’m assuming to be, magical symbols on the weapons. Every weapon in the videos seemed to be an explosive of some kind, but, again, I am not an expert and Slick should definitely look at it.” Like with me Slick gave his nod of understanding when Grimm made eye contact. “Neither government would give me copy of the videos so I would ask either Jackson or Reaver to get that for us to view.” Jackson and Reaver both gave a nice neat little head tilt in understanding. “Each contact had a different idea for how this was possible, especially since it happened the same exact time around the world. America has no idea, Russia thinks it’s a terrorist cell sending out a warning of what is to come, Korea believes that it is a hoax, and Africa believes that it’s a portal to another realm, or a vision of the future; they believe in magic more than the rest.”

“What do you think? You got to see all four of the videos…” Edward asked looking for an opinion that he trust a little more.

Grimm seemed to think about it for a time. “I’m not big on magic so I feel dismissive of it but truthfully all options seem rather plausible. I’m more of the Ockham's Razor type of person, the simplest solution is usually the right one.” He said with a shrug.

Edward gave a slight nod as if he was filing his response away for later and turned to Jackson and Reaver. He didn’t even have to say a thing, they knew what he was expecting and they did not fail to supply it.

Reaver started, “We hacked the US government to find the original feed that the video streamed on. The digital trail lead to a proverbial dead end and seemed hopeless, until we found a faint flicker of residual activity. The encryption on the video from the US, not sure about the others, has a periodic spike of from the original source. Even though the original trail was destroyed, with the periodic spikes my brother and I were able to recreate the majority of the trail back to its origin, but it’s not complete yet.” He looked to his brother who took over the explanation. “We ran into a bit of a problem.” He took in a breath as if gathering his courage to finish what he had to say. “Usually as we get closer to the end of the trail we can start to hazard a pretty accurate guess as to what to expect, how it was done, and where it came from.” He looked around the room, gauging our individual understanding before continuing, “The only time we can see an end is during the spikes and they only occur every hour for 5 to 30 seconds. It’s not enough time to study the end point.”

“What do you mean that you can only see it when it spikes?” Imp cut in incredulously.

“Exactly what he said…” Reaver answered before his brother could, clearly on the defensive, “Generally we can track anything as long as we can either build a trail or follow a trail to its origin, but this video, for the majority of the day, came from nowhere; at least nowhere on earth.”

“Which bring us to what you said…” Jackson stated looking at Grimm. “The only way for this type of activity with the lack of results that we’re looking at is a trans-dimensional signal. Something starting in one place, hopping through a loop hole in time and space and landing here, leaving no real trail to follow. The only reason we were able to create what we got right now is cause whatever caused the phenomenon in the first place is still working somehow.” He shrugged, “I’m inclined to go with the Africans theory on this one, all the evidence points to an interdimensional travel and I’m not sure if this is even our problem to solve. It’s not happening here, I don’t think we should care.”

The men were nodding in agreement and turned to their leader for guidance, but Edward was looking at me. “This is your area of expertise Anita…” he tilted is head studying me, “should we pursue this?”

I just looked at him, “My expertise is in magic, not interdimensional cyber travel.”

Edward just stared at me, but I got his point. The only thing we know of that can go through dimensions is magic, science hasn’t reached that point yet.

So instead of being an ass, I bit my tongue did what he wanted me to do. I took a moment to think on everything they had; 4 videos of 4 different sects working on what seemed to be bombs infused with magic. All four videos were discovered around the same time, and whatever opened the pathway between the worlds was still active for a varying amount of time of 5-30 seconds every hour. I looked at Reaver and his brother “I want you to look at the other three tapes and determine if the trails to them are still active as well.”

“Why?” Edward had never taken his eyes off of me as I processed the information.

I turned back to him, “If all the videos are reacting the same way as the American one, than this is our problem. That would then mean that the origin of the magic responsible is here, and it would be safe to assume that if the sects are connecting through our world, that there is a similar group here as well. If the others aren’t responding that way and it was just a huge coincidence, highly unlikely, than yeah we can drop it. But we better make damn sure it’s really not a threat before we ignore it.”

Edward gave a quick nod before turning back to the room, “For now the mission is still a go. Jackson and Reaver find out if the others are reacting the same way as the American video. Slick and Anita I want the two of you to study the videos and give us a breakdown later of what you see. I also want you two,” he pointed at the brothers “to show Anita the spike.” He looked at me “I want to know if you can feel anything from it when it happens.” I nodded, it was improbable since it would be technology and I’ve never tried to infuse, or sense, magic with technology before, but it doesn’t hurt to try. “Grimm I want you to get in contact with the Africans and find out what they believe happened completely. Apparently they were on to something.” Grimm nodded pulling out his cell phone as the brothers set up their computers on the coffee table in the middle of the room. Edward turned to Imp, “Was there anything in the underworld?” Imp nodded, “There was talk of a powerful magic at work, but it didn’t seem to pertain to this case till right now.” Edward nodded, “Get on that than, I want something within the next 3 hours.” Imp gave a head tilt and pulled out his phone.

Edward turned to me speaking quietly so the others couldn’t hear, “You good?” I let the confusion show on my face at his question and interesting timing of asking it. I saw his mouth twitch, the butt was laughing at me! I glared at him, trying to curb my first response (which was to punch him) and to just stick to my very ineffectual glare. “The _ardeur_ , do you need to feed it?” He asked by way of explanation and just like that I was knocked out of my bad mood. Did I need to feed? The last time I had my fill was a day and a half ago and it was from a distance, so not as fulfilling as it could be. I did a gentle probe of the _arduer_ to determine whether or not I had to take an emergency trip. It felt stable enough but I would have to feed soon if I wanted to keep my quick healing ability.

I gave Edward a small shake of the head, replying just as quietly, “Later tonight maybe but nothing immediate. Eating two full meals was helpful in keeping the drive down.” He gave a small nod still amused by my forgetfulness, the ass. He gave a slight tap on my shoulder to indicate a truce and left the room heading to the kitchen. He was most likely starting a pot of coffee, mainly because he knew I would forgive just about any transgression against me if he gave me some awesome coffee to make up for it. I gave a slight smile at his obvious manage Anita tactics, before turning back to the room. Everyone was looking at me, probably wondering if Edward and I had just exchanged some sweet nothings. 

I just gave the room an incredibly bored stare until they all went back to their tasks at hand. Of course this didn’t mean that I was free of question, nope…Reaver and Jackson just have to fill the silence. “What’s up with you and Edward?” I rolled my eyes, “What are you talking about?” Slick and Reaver were the only ones looking directly at me but I could feel the interest of the others as they paid attention to the conversation while doing their appointed tasks. I was really hoping that Edward returned soon so they could stop questioning me.

“I’m talking about the fact that I’ve never seen Edward with a woman the way he is with you. He holds you in high regard, more than the other four horseman. I know I’ve seen him interact with them, their tolerated, you’re…” he was at a loss for words. “Treasured.” Slick said, the first time I had ever heard him talk…I’m not sure I like him talking; being quite seemed to suit him better. “Yeah, he’s more… loose with his fiancé than he is with you. He treats you like you’re delicate, but dangerous. It’s such a weird combination.” He looked puzzled. “Were, or are, the two of you together?” Slick asked, apparently deciding to get to the heart of the matter. The others looked at me now, wanting an answer. I really wish Edward would come back already, it does not take that long to get coffee started.

“No.” I said, knowing it would not appease them, but I didn’t want to talk about it.

I was right Jackson decided to jump into the conversation, “There’s something between the two of you Anita. The last time I spoke to Bernardo he said that being around the two of you made him feel like a voyeur. I didn’t believe him at the time, but seeing the two of you together I completely get where he’s coming from. Every time the two of you interact it’s… it’s like it’s a private moment. I don’t know why but it’s intense and I feel like I’m intruding on a moment.” All the men nodded in agreement, all still doing what they needed. Damn the skill of multitasking.

I shrugged, “I don’t know what you’re seeing, or feeling, but we’re not like that. I help when he asks and he helps when I ask. We have a… form, of friendship and that’s it.”

“So you’re not sleeping together?” Grimm asked in disbelief. “You have to at least be sleeping together. No one gets as close as the two of you without at least sex.” He was still on the phone, I figured he was on hold or something, otherwise he shouldn’t be entering this very stupidly annoying conversation.

“We are not sleeping together…” platonic bed sharing did not count. “Look we’re friends, colleagues, but that’s it.” I looked at Reaver and Jackson “Now show me the damn spike so I can see if I sense anything.”

It was at this moment Edward came back into the room effectively diverting any digging to a later time. I could see the promise of a continued conversation at a later date looming in their eyes. Freaking nosy gossiping assassins. Edward looked at me questioning the tension in the air with slight tilt of his head. I shrugged, promising to fill him in later with my eyes. He accepted that and began making sure that everyone was working at the rate he felt was productive.

I looked at the spike and tried to feel it. The first time I tried I had no luck, but an hour later when I tried again I let down a few of my shields and I felt the magic. It pulsated like it was a pulse and I knew, even before the brothers finished hacking and getting the other videos to find if they had a spike, that they would be just as the one in front of me. I could feel the caster through the continuous pulsation of the spike and their active movement through various points in the earth. Whoever was doing this was strong and efficient. He, and I know it’s a he through the magic, was checking all of his sects and their progress through the 5-30 seconds the spike happened. Impressive. I quickly pulled back so he wouldn’t feel me looking in on his operation. 

I must have closed my eyes at some point because when I opened them everyone’s attention was once again on me. I was really starting to hate that. Edward was standing at my side just quietly waiting for my verdict.

“This is definitely our problem.” I indicated the computer, “That spike is not a mechanical thing but a magical one. The man, and it is a man, who is doing the magic is periodically checking with the sects through small windows of time to avoid any detection. If I didn’t have this computer as a focus I would have missed him entirely.” I jerked my thumb in the directions of the brothers, “They’ll look for a spike in the other videos and I’m 100% sure that they’ll find it. I’m also rather positive that they all happen randomly and all together the spikes won’t be longer than a minute, a minute and a half, maximum.”

“How do you know it was a man?” Slick asked looking suspicious like I wasn’t saying everything.

“It’s the same way you smell something and immediately identify it as feminine or masculine. Magic is the same way, it all leaves a trace and any one worth their salt can make a rather good deduction of what type of person their looking for from what they left behind. The energy that people put out, whether you’re thinking about it or not, represents them, in all ways. He was trying to avoid being tracked by keeping his magic outputs in small stints and random. It’s the same idea that people use to try to avoid being traced on the phone.” I finished with a shrug.

“So what can you tell me about him and where he is?” Edward asked bringing us back on track.

“That he’s powerful, but completely in control of it. He’s on a different continent, but below us, if that makes any sense…” Edward gave a nod of encouragement. “He’s very efficient.” I said trying to replay the feel of his magic in my mind. “I had to pull back quickly so he didn’t sense me so I didn’t get a complete feel of him, but he’s ruthless. He wants people to suffer, not die. Whatever those weapons are they have aren’t going to kill people out right. It’s going to have more of a… plague like effect. He wants to see what humans do best… kill each other. This plan had been in motion for years, there will be no infiltration at this point. I doubt we’ll be able to do this quietly.” I focused on Edward, “The good thing is that each bomb is in a different stage of development. If I can find which ones are closer to completion and which are further than we can plan accordingly.”

“Can we just take out the man and the bomb in our dimension? Do we have to hop realities to get them all?” Sadly this was a serious question from Edward; my favorite sociopath.

“Yes, and not only because it would be the right thing to do.” I said giving him a dull look, to which he completely ignored; per usual. “The magic is interconnected, if even on in a different reality one of these weapons goes off it will affect ours, and probably not positively. He made these weapons to have the biggest effect it can on all worlds.” I looked around at their blank face and sighed. “All dimensions and realities are interconnected, the butterfly effect is a very real thing, and it is interdimensional.” I shrugged, “It’s difficult to explain but just know that even one of those going off can cause a backlash on us that we don’t want. Killing the man would just shut the portals to the other realms. I can open them if worse comes to worse but I would rather we find the exact location of all the bombs before we kill him. Something that would be easier to do if I could get my hands on him.” I grinned, “It’ll be a bitch getting him alive though.”

Edward nodded thinking about what I just said. After a while he turned to Grimm and Imp, “What did the two of you find?”

Imp push off the wall he was leaning on to bring himself closer to the group. He was giving me an odd look again and it was starting to piss me off. “The people from the underground don’t have any definite information on the man, or his magic. They just know that he has a lot of power up high, enough to disappear and have pull in just about any government he is around.” His eye’s flicked to me and back to Edward, “If we go after him and try to keep him alive than we will most likely be battling each and every government we run into. It’s safe to assume that he has an army at his disposal by the way my contacts are talking, and that’s only in this dimension. I recommend that we take him out at the earliest convenience.”

“Only after I’ve made sure that his death doesn’t act as a trigger to the weapons, which is a very big possibility.” I said giving him my full attention. “Yeah well we can’t work if every government is on our ass.” I glared at him, “And we can’t work on the problem if you kill him and cause the situation to go from possible detonation to clean up.” He opened his mouth to reply but was stopped before he got the chance.

“Enough…” Edwards’s voice wasn’t loud, but it didn’t need to be, we could hear the warning loud and clear. He gave us both a look to insure that we would hold our tongues before turning to Grimm. “What did you find?”

“Not much. The voodoo priest in the area said he saw something in a vision. Another world, similar to our but different. He said that there was a gate way connecting the two, an unholy creation creating an unbalance in the universe. He seemed to believe that the open portal could only be closed if the person who opened it gave a sacrifice of greater power than it took to open it initially. Something about Karma.” He grimaced, “I asked if there was anything else he felt from the magic or the other world but he said anything further would only be understood by another voodoo practitioner. I couldn’t get anything else from him.”

Edward turned to me and I answered his question before he could ask it. “If I meet him I can talk to him. My magic is just a more specialized form of Voodoo and he’ll feel that.” Edward nodded and turned to the brothers. “Did you finish verifying Anita’s assessment about the other videos and their spikes?”

Both of the brothers nodded, “Their just as she said they would be: all together equaling a minute to a minute and a half, all spiking at different times randomly, and all the spikes happen at least once an hour.” Jackson said. Edward nodded, “Now that you have the videos I want you to show them to both Anta and Slick on different monitors.” He looked between me and Slick, “I want the two of you to talk to each other if you see something that doesn’t make sense to either of you.” We both nodded our agreement and when the brothers separated two of their many monitors we sat at the table and side by side to make easier comparisons. For the next three hours both Slick and I poured over the videos finding oddities that usually one or the other of us could answer. There was nothing too odd about the weapons, I mean other than the existence of them. There was nothing really different about them, I mean not that I could see from the video. Now actually being in front of one might be a whole different story. Everyone else in the room just watched us; Edward being kind, and continued to keep me supplied with coffee, gotta love the man. When that was coming to a close I felt the _ardeur_ start to wake. If I wanted to keep my healing ability and to not have to worry about feeding it for a while I needed to do this now. I turned from the last video we were studying, and looked right at Edward, “It’s almost time.” He nodded his understanding. We quickly wrapped up the rest of the conversation we were having, ending with Edward telling us that we would be heading to Africa in the morning and dismissing them for the night. All the men were looking between us again, wondering what the hell was up and clearly thinking that I was lying about me and Edwards’s relationship. I wonder if Edward knew what they were thinking about us. Pssh, stupid thought, of course he knew, it was Edward. And then I wondered if he cared. That was harder to determine. He always held his emotions so close to his chest. Oh, well, it’s not like it matters. I’m not here to know his feelings, but to work with him to stop a crazy magic welding weapons of mass destruction person, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do. 


	8. Do or Do Not, There Is No Try

Chapter 8

Once everyone was in their respective vehicles Edward lead me to his hummer, still dirty, to take me to the closest strip club. I was only feeding from a distance, but it would be enough to tide me over for a day or two before we had to find another. Well either that or get someone else in my triumvirates to feed the _ardeur_ for me if necessary, but that’s a worst case scenario. At the moment I wanted as little contact between me and the boys as possible. I feel like a douche for pushing them away but I can feel it, something is….wrong? Missing? I don’t know how to describe it but my efforts, or time and energy, should be focused elsewhere and I can feel it, I know it.

Edward watched the others pull out and head out to where ever they were going. He waited, letting there be a distance between them and us. I have a vague feeling that Edward is waiting for them to leave, not to give us room to leave, but for another reason entirely. I knew he didn’t trust them, but I guess he caught on to their curiosity and felt that they would try to follow us to sooth it. I didn’t think that they would go so far but then again I don’t know them like Edward does and if he felt that they would try to follow than they would try to follow.

It took ten minutes before Edward decided it as safe to move out. During the wait and the drive to the strip club we were quiet, but it was a comfortable silence. Both of us were in our own thoughts, him thinking whatever a sociopath thinks about, and me thinking about my boy problem. I mean I began having these issues with them five months ago, the first day of September, the day of my birth. I woke up that morning and just didn’t want to be there. It had nothing to do with the boys, it was me. The responses they had to situations, to each other, and to me flashed through my mind that morning and I found that it bothered me. They had responded true to themselves but at the same time they weren’t right for me and what I needed. Constantly needing to curb natural responses for the people around you so you can be accepted is a prison of its own making. In my early twenties I was told I was too aggressive, actually people had been telling me that my whole life, but the last time, it came from my fiancée in college. For him I curbed my initial responses to something more socially appropriate. After that I had never let my self be instinctive. The boys wonder where the well of anger deep inside of me came from and that’s it. The self-denial had destroyed me, the original real me, not the me that I used to cover her. For her to be trapped inside of me for all of this time, helping those she would rather have destroyed, loving those she hates, ignoring those she loves, resting when she wanted to work, backing down when she’d rather fight… she was done. It was her time and the only person I knew she could safely come out around was Edward. He’s hiding too, less than I am, he was more open with both sides, but he understands me and would be able to buffer me from causing too many problems with the mission. Although in truth, she would be better for this than me anyway. I need to be ruthless and being hesitant and kind is not going to help me when facing the people I’m about to face.

As the car slowed down into a parking spot I realized that we were here. The club looked like the standard seedy strip club that you would see in a movie. On a normal day I would not have chosen this for myself, but Edward does nothing without reason and if he came here instead of something more… clean, than there is a good reason for it and I was not inclined to demand the explanation; it was enough to know he’s trusted.

Even though it was early in the afternoon the place was packed, it was only 9:30 after all. The moment we passed the bouncer and walked into the building you could smell the unwashed bodies and the smoke. I must have made a face because next thing I knew I was facing Edward in, what can only be described as, an embrace, his mouth near my ear. “I think you should start working on your acting in public places, when we start for real I’m going to need you to play roles once in a while…”

With that, before I could get a word in, he turned me back around with his arm firmly planted on my shoulder. I guess we were playing the couple out looking for a good time. Not too hard to blend in when the rest of the occupants seemed to be either single or paired off. The single men seemed to either at the bar or right in front of the stage. I could feel the sleaze oozing out of them and it made my skin crawl. I definitely would have chosen a different place. He guided me to the bar and ordered some drinks for us. I have no idea what he ordered since the music was so loud that I couldn’t hear anything unless it was screamed straight into my ear, I just knew it would be non-alcoholic.

I started to do my usual scan of the room to familiarize myself only to once again be brought into an embrace by Edward, his mouth right next to my ear. “When acting you can’t be yourself Anita, you have to change everything from the way you present yourself to what pisses you off. We’re here as a couple, and you’re not holding me or looking at the other woman as a potential threat or doing any of the other things a normal couple would do. This makes you stand out as different, this makes people think cop. Act Anita, you have to act.” And with that our drinks arrived.

He let go just long enough to grab our drinks and give me mine. He had handed me a martini glass, with a clear liquid inside and a little umbrella and little straw. The circumference of the glass was liberally covered in salt. I held the straw and took a sip, only to get the taste of clear bottled water. I smirked a little, and to get into the spirit of acting, looked up at Edward through my lashes and moved slightly closer to him. He gave me a goofy grin, completely Ted, and wrapped his drink less arm around my waist plastering me to his side. I wasn’t quite up to returning the favor so instead of offering a mutual embrace I keep both my hands on my cleverly disguised drink and lay my cheek on his shoulder following him to an open table right near the stage. Again, this would not have been my first choice and truthfully if I had been dealing with Edward it wouldn’t be his either, this was Teds? Whomever he is at the time, game, and he would sit right at the stage with his girlfriend and said girlfriend, me, is apparently okay with it.

The seating was a curved booth, big enough for me to have sat across from him but we’re supposed to be a couple and no matter how ineffective it maybe, couples sit right next to each other… you know… to be close. So instead of doing what I would normally do and pulling away from him when he sat, I quickly scooted in right by his side, dropping the hand closet to him to make it seem like I was doing other things with that hand. Edward played right into it by rubbing his nose against my shoulder and up my cheek to my ear, “Very good, now feed so we can leave, but remember, keep your cover as you do it.” His breath in my ear made me shiver. “I have to say, this was not the way I thought you’d go with it.”

I turned my head rubbing my cheek against his as I nodded once. I then nudged his head out of the way to replace it with mine against his neck and the back of the seat to hide my face as I dropped the shielding around the _ardeur_. “Oddly, neither did I. I don’t know why I chose this method either.” I sent the power searching around the bar. I knew Edward felt it by him catching his breath and pulling me closer. He controlled himself very well considering, but then again Edward was the master of control. Considering his proximity, it was interesting that the _ardeur_ skipped right over him as if he didn’t exist. This was something to investigate at a later date. It found plenty of other willing victims though. Apparently, the dancer on the stage really found Edward attractive and was doing her best to catch his eye; it wasn’t working. The bouncer liked the girl on stage but never had the chance to ask her out so he had some very pent-up sexual frustration there. There was a couple in the bathroom having sex much to the chagrin of the woman who needed to pee so bad she just might go on herself. The sleazy single man sitting at the stage was on the verge of orgasm from both the show on stage and the one we were giving them off stage -gross-, the bartender was flirting with a woman that he was not interested in but she definitely was, and apparently the waitress thought both me and Edward were hot and was planning to give us her number for a threesome, so on and so forth. Strangely enough the _ardeur_ also ignored the waitress. Unlike Edward it identified that she was there and her desire, but it didn’t feed off her. Did she have charms that repel it like Bernardo carry’s? No, I don’t sense that at all…I’ll come back to that. So, all in all, an interesting and sexually active crowd making this so easy for me that the _ardeur_ was full without me trying.

The whole time I was feeding I never stopped acting as if I was doing *things* to Edward under the table as we both continued our performance of a nice healthy couple necking in a sleazy bar. Clearly our characters had no decorum or embarrassment. If we were really doing what we were displaying to the world we would be exhibitionist; very obvious, non-repentant, exhibitionists.

“Done…”

Edward nodded and we slowly moved back from each other. When we had eye contact he grinned at me and I responded in kind. There was no awkwardness at all even though there should have been. We both drained our drinks, and stood heading to the door. Our arms wrapped around the others waist, after the show we just put on hugging was nothing on the scale of embarrassment. We could see the bouncer leaning outside through the cracked door, we were almost, “Excuse me…” Edward and I turned to find the waitress behind us holding a piece of paper. She was rather pretty with her long brown hair, light brown eyes, natural bronze skin, nice smile, and quite tasteful clothing selection, especially for the location, of black slacks, and white button up top with hints of gold jewelry. “My name is Amber,” she held out the paper to us, Edward took it, not opening it. “If the two of you want to…” She licked her lips as she slowly gave us the full body scan, “…have a good time, give me a call.” She winked at us and turned, walking away with an exaggerated sway to her hips.

We shared a look and then a smile once more as we made our way to the car still walking with our arms around each other. Out of the corner of my I saw Edward put Ambers number in his pocket while, somehow, simultaneously taking out his car keys from the same pocket. Now that doesn’t sound so amazing but you try putting a piece of paper in the same pocket as your keys and then taking out said keys without displacing the paper or crumpling it. It’s nearly impossible and yet he was able to do it without a hitch. Sometimes I think Edward does have powers, I just don’t know how I would classify it… ninja powers? I don’t know I just know that he can do things with ease that us mortals cannot.

Once we were again on our way back to the house the car was enveloped into a comfortable silence, which gave me time to think. For once it wasn’t the boys on my mind but Edward and his… vulnerability? Since I came here he has been more gentle with me, extra touchy feely, and more open and happy than I had ever seen him. I knew of nothing that would entice this change from him, especially towards me. Then there’s the way he handled Donna, why did he want her to see us in those very compromising positions? What is he gaining from all of this and why wouldn’t he just tell me? When it comes to our personal life, or our nonexistent relationship, he knows I would be willing to play along with him, I’ve done it before when people pissed him off. At this point I just don’t understand all the secrecy, so I’ve decided that the moment we return that I would ask. I liked the comfort of the ride back and I wasn’t quite ready to face the storm just yet, and I knew it would be a big emotional thing because it’s me and Edward. It’s odd, but for two people who don’t like, or really have, emotions we sure have a lot of it in our lives. Maybe life acts just like Osmosis. In order for our lives to be balanced, since we don’t display, or actually retain, emotions, the emotional aspects of our lives have to be greater from outward forces to keep us balanced. I don’t know, maybe I’m just thinking too much about nothing.

Edward parked in his usual spot facing the road, probably in case we had to move quickly there would be no unnecessary obstacles like backing out. The minute we got in I went straight to the kitchen to make a sandwich. I wasn’t very hungry but I figured I could eat now to sate the other hungers before they become a problem and it gave me the bonus of looking and doing something while I asked my questions. I had a feeling that once we were in the air surrounded by the other men that Edward wouldn’t want to discuss emotions. Then again neither do I.

I looked at the clock, 10:42pm, we had a few hours to talk before we had to start to get ready to fly out. I’m assuming that neither of us are going to get much sleep tonight, we were probably going to leave early tomorrow, like around 3am to beat the crowd and to be more conspicuous; which means we have to pack before that, get a solid game plan, say bye to the kids and Donna (most likely on the phone), and discuss our emotional shit in-between, not in that particular order. Tonight we’ll be busy, so we mind as well get started.

With that thought Edward entered the room as if I had summoned him with my resolve. He leaned against the counter right next to me, watching as I butchered the bread in an attempt to remove the edges. He quietly looked on until I accidently ripped the bread in half, at which time he smoothly took the mangled bread, threw it out the window for the birds, got two new slices and neatly and efficiently made me my sandwich without the ends. My face was so red I knew I was radiating heat.

“Thanks…” I mumbled not looking up, knowing that his eyes were laughing at me as he handed me my food with the addition of chips, fresh cup of coffee and juice. I took my bounty back to the table, sat, and began eating, trying to summon the previous courage I had lost due to my culinary skills, or lack thereof. 

“Just spit it out Anita.”

I jumped a little at his voice, not only because he knew me so well and knew exactly what I was working myself for, and not because his voice was full of some form of emotion, something I might have said was caring if it had been anyone else. No not because of that, I jumped because of how close he was to me when he said it. I could feel his breath on my neck. I could see him watching me out of my peripheral, I didn’t dare turn my head he was too close and I didn’t want to accidently kiss my best friend. Instead I swallowed my food, and cleared my throat.

“What are you doing?” I leaned away so I could see him completely. “Why are you acing like this?”

His eyes were dead as he tilted his head in question, “Acting like what?”

My eyes narrowed as I decided whether he was being obtuse on purpose or if he was just unaware of his odd reactions to me. “You held me when I fell to the floor last night…”

“You told me not to move.” He said with a raised brow.

“You pulled me too hard when I stood, on purpose mind you, and kept the embrace even though you knew Donna was coming back. You then, non-verbally asked me to go along with that…” I glared at him.

“You saw how she responded when you tried to tell her nothing was going on, if we did anything different she would have thought we were trying to lie to her again…” Something about that explanation was off but right at the moment I knew it was an argument I would not win.

“You shared a bed with me…”

“And I told you I have been having trouble sleeping the past five months…”

“And you have never told me why that is Edward.” I could hear the beginnings of frustration in my voice. “You also haven’t explained why your so damn happy, or why you all were staring at me this morning, or why the acting lesson needed to be us being a couple, or why you get in my personal space to say something simple, **and** , I feel that this is the most important, why you still have Ambers number in your pocket.”

He backed up a little himself looking confused at the last statement, “One: really? That’s the most important?” I nodded solemnly, then I couldn’t help it I grinned innocently. He looked at me suspiciously… “Two: I haven’t told you because, just like you, I can’t fully explain why I can’t. I just know that I’ve been dreaming weird.” That stopped me, he was dreaming weird too? Is this some form of magic, or a very unlikely coincidence? Before I could hone in on that he moved on, “Three: Your funny in a not funny way, and your reactions are hilarious.” I’m going to punch him right on his kidney. “Four: Your hair was up and none of us had ever seen you without you hair down. It changed the way you looked and I think I speak for everyone when I say you looked rather striking with your hair up.” I felt my jaw drop in utter disbelief, not only that putting my hair up changed how I looked, but that the change was for the better and that drastic. Edward must have read my face because the next thing I know he’s two inches from my face, one hand on the chair near my thigh the other on the back of the chair near my right shoulder. His eyes were frozen glaciers, but I could see the current of emotion underneath the cold ice. “I never said anything since it wasn’t my place and I’ve never saw you do it in front of me, but I will say it now. Stop demining yourself. They spoke to you the way they did because they knew that you were not only better than them intellectually, but that your looks would soon catch up to you and that you would be the full package: intelligent, beautiful, and caring. With that knowledge they campaigned to make you less and the only way they could do it was to take away any self-confidence, or esteem, that you had. They couldn’t take away the gifts your God felt fit to give you, but they knew that they could blind you to those gifts, and as long as you let them blind you, they win.” The hand near my shoulder rested on my face, gently forcing me to stop turning my head away, making me to see his truth and his complete belief behind it. “See yourself Anita, not as they named you, not as they wish you were, but as you. And if you can’t see yourself through you, than do so through me until you can. Stop hiding yourself and just be yourself.”

I could see my reflection in his eyes, I felt his convection, and I knew that more than anything I trusted him implicitly. So I did as he asked, I fought years of repression, put downs, and self-loathing, and I fought to see myself as he saw me. Was I beautiful? Edward said I was, and he never lied to me, so I must be. Was I smart? Edward calls me in to impossible cases when he’s stumped so he must think that I have something to offer in the smarts category. He wouldn’t risk his life for something false, so I must be smart. Was I caring? Every chance he gets Edwards getting on me for wanting to protect someone who in all actuality shouldn’t need it or have it but I felt deserves it. So I must be. At this point I realized I was bawling, not crying, not sobbing, but bawling. To finally see a piece of myself in the positive after a whole life seeing myself as negative is a lot to take in. I wanted to gain control but my heart and body rebelled my mind. It was their turn to come to terms with being more than I spent my whole life thinking I was. It was their turn to come to terms that I thought I was gross and disgusting which is why I had never argued any injustice done to me. I had always felt that I deserved it and so I had no right to complain, which was why Edward always did the protesting for me. I hadn’t realized that what he had been doing, at the time I just thought he was being annoying but now thinking back…he was just caring for me the only way he could.

That epiphany made me cry harder, which I didn’t think was possible, but apparently was. Through all of this Edward just held me, not saying anything, just calmly rubbing slow circles on my back. After a long while, it felt like a good 30min cry, I calmed. Edward was still being the rock I needed, waiting for me to get over the initial emotional storm as he sat in the chair. Ostensibly Edward had picked me up, taken the chair and set me on his lap, making a comfortable position for us both. As the last of my tears fell silently I laid my head on his shoulder, “You still didn’t explain the acting, personal space, and Amber…” I whispered.

He put his lips to the crown of my head, so I could feel him smile, before he lifted his head and rested his chin where his lips had been. “I hadn’t had I?” I shook my head once, giving a small smile that he couldn’t see. “We don’t know what we’re going to face when we start this thing for real, and the thing your most uncomfortable with is intimacy. Today you got better at acting close but if we have to go to reputable places you’re going to have to be less crass and more intimate than we were today.” He must have felt my argument before I could open my mouth, “Crass is easy, you can separate yourself from it, true intimacy is much harder to do if you can’t be comfortable Anita. Well work our way up to it, but we don’t have much time so get used to this.” His arm tightened around me to emphasis his point. I knew that I couldn’t argue his reasoning so I let it be. “As for the personal space, same reason. I need you to at least be comfortable acting like this with me, if no one else. I have no doubt that there will be times that this will be necessary. So for the next few days, I’m going to be sticking very close to you.” I gave a minuscule nod of understanding, even if given reluctantly. He chuckled, knowing me to damn well, “As for Amber, I might have a…taste for someone like her one day. No need to throw out a potential.”

I gave a small bark of laughter, “A potential? Really?” I had picked up my head so he could see the disbelief in my eyes first hand.

He just smirked at me and handed me my still, surprisingly, kinda warm coffee to drink. It was at the point of being almost cold enough that it taste bad, and just warm enough that it tasted okay and I couldn’t in good conscience throw it out. I downed the whole cup, letting the caffeine reenergize me where my crying bout left me exhausted. Feeling better overall, I put the cup down on the table, and stood, turning to face Edward fully.

“So, when are we leaving, and what do I pack?” We had our emotional conversation, it was now time to focus on work.

“The moment Jackson and Raver contact me with the location of the plane we’ll be taking. Since we won’t be going through customs at any of the places we go, bring everything you got. We’ll need it.” He looked thoughtful for a moment, “The brothers are reliable and fast, so expect to be out of here by 3am.” He looked at his watch, “And before it gets too late we should call and say bye to Donna and the kids, no reason to make them worry.”

I smiled, knowing that I was completely right in my assumptions.

So that’s what we did. Yes it was 12:00am, damn I must have cried longer than I thought, and we woke the family with the call but everyone was happy to be able to say bye to me and their father/husband-fiancée. With that done I returned upstairs to repack Sigmund, real hard work there, before I got to the hard part. Getting my arsenal from the car, and car safe, really loving that feature, was a task. I seem to have more weapons than I thought I did, and the next few hours Edward and I were switching out my traceable rounds with his untraceable ones. Where he got them, I have no idea, but he had enough rounds and diversity of said rounds that every one of my and his weapons had a minimum of 30 reloads. It may sound like a lot but we were going to be flying over the world indefinitely and I had a feeling we would need more sooner rather than later. We packed our now untraceable artillery, anything I had bought in my name was left in his house, into their bags. As we had reload each weapon we had wiped each bullet down to remove print and wore gloves to insure they stayed clean.

At 2:53am the brothers called with the location of the plane and to inform us that the others were also notified and on their way. Edward and I finished the quick straighten up we were doing, no reason to come back to a dirty house, locked everything down and hopped in the car. Edward didn’t even look up the location on his phone so I was assuming that he knew where to go. I figured now was a good time to shield my powers, it would give me the whole plane ride to replenish my expended energy.

I closed my eyes, blocking out all sound and visualized the spell, when I had it I began to chant the words under my breath. Once I started I couldn’t stop or else I would have to start over, I knew that Edward wouldn’t let anything disturb me until I was done, which made this car ride the best place to do it. Could slowly feel my natural aurora being dragged back to my body. It was like pulling a kite to you against the wind, tiring and difficult, but if you stopped it would fly right back out. With each inch I brought in I set a lock over it, it made it more difficult than it needed to be but it also insured that one magical mistake didn’t have me shinning like a beacon, there would be too many layers for that. By the time I reeled in the rest of my aurora I had so many locks in place that if one broke only an indiscernible amount would escape, only a supremely strong psychic would notice and even then they would have to be actively focusing on me and they would only assume that I was extremely weak.

I opened my eyes to see that we had stopped at some empty field. I have no idea how long I was working on my shield, I just know when I looked at Edward he was staring at me with one leg on his seat and back to the window. I could see the other men at different windows around the car looking from my face to my hands to my chest and back again. I looked down at my hands, seeing what looked to be tattoos, tribal tattoos, swirling up my hands to my shoulder, chest face and well just everywhere. That was one of the negatives of sealing your aurora, it leaves its sealing marks. So, used a little glamour to hide the markings and leave my skin completely clear, even removing my scars from sight. Don’t know wat I would be doing or going but you remember a woman with scars like mine more than a woman without them. It was strong enough to hide them from sight and touch, and a really good psychic would know I was using a tiny amount of glamour, generally only enough to hide a small beauty mark, but nothing else. They would know the face they see is my true one and not question it. Everyone had imperfections that they would hide if they could.

I heard a few of the men inhale at the sudden change but that was it. Edward just raised a brow and calmly turned to get out now that the show was over. I followed suit, the other men scrambled to gather their wits and helped us load our cargo onto the plane; clearly they already finished loading their gear. It looked like it was just big enough to hold maybe twenty people including the pilot and copilot, which was good because that meant the weapons wouldn’t weigh the plane down.

The brothers went into the plane to do whatever it was they were doing as we finished packing the bottom of the plan with the bigger artillery. Someone cleared their throat behind me, Edward turned and looked at the person and walked onto the plane. Since I still felt the person behind me I figured he wanted to talk to me, so I finished putting Edwards beloved flame thrower into its spot and turned to find Imp staring at me. Slick and Grimm were on the stairs struggling to angle something into the plane. What I was, I couldn’t guess, but it was awkwardly shaped, making it difficult to get it in the door.

“What was that?”

“What was what?” I asked confused.

He rolled his eyes, shifted to look at the slow progress of the other men and looked back to me after a moment. “What did you do in the car?”

I raised both my eye brows and nodded in understanding. “I had to seal my aurora, if I hadn’t every vampire, were animal, fay, witch, sorcerer and so on would know where I was the second I got there. We’re trying to be inconspicuous, so I needed to reel that in and make myself as normal as possible.” I looked at my scar-less hands, “That includes removing the sealing marks and my extensive scaring…” I could read his next question before he could do mothing more than open his mouth. “No their not gone forever, I just covered them up. Imagine it as magical foundation. I can remove it at any time, but while I have it on you can’t see nor feel it.” He slowly nodded digesting that information, what he would do with it I had no idea, I just hoped it wouldn’t bit me in my ass later.

He started to walk away, but mid-step he turned back…”How did you do the doorbell thing?”

I smiled, “Easy, I heard you all drive in.” With that I walked up to the stairs and now clear doorway, guess they got whatever that was in. As I climbed into the plane I finally realized something I had completely forgotten. How I did is rather amazing but I did and I wanted someone to blame for the lapse in memory. The moment I walked in I saw Edward sitting in a chair on his laptop doing whatever it was he was doing and that pissed me off more. I walked right up to him and kicked him on the shin, well I tried to but he moved fast enough that I only grazed him. I tried again and got a tad closer this time which lightened my mood but not enough. Tired of playing, try to kick Edward (he didn’t even lift his head from the computer), I plopped down in the seat right next to his frowning. I looked up to see everyone looking at us, probably wondering why I was trying to hit the team leader and what they should do about it, if anything should be done at all. I just glared at them until they began the final preparations. Slick and Grimm went around the cab securing everything down. The brothers went back to their preflight checks, seems that they’re our pilot and copilot for this trip which make it much easier to stay unnoticed. The less people that know the better. Imp was closing and sealing the door after pulling up the stairs, while assuring the brothers that he did indeed close and locked the bottom hatch after insuring the equipment was fastened correctly. With everything done the guys took a seat, I feel, rather close to Edward and I but whatever, if they want to crowd it’s on them.

I put my seat belt on right before the engines started. The moment they turned on I grabbed both armrests.

“I wondered how long it would take for you to remember you hate flying...” I was staring at the wall between us the cockpit intently, but I can still feel the bastard smile. I would look at him but the window was right behind his head and I really didn’t want to have any more validation that I was about to be insanely high in the air in just a moment.

“Fuck you.”

I could feel his amusement turn to speculation, “I have a pilot license, would it help if I flew instead?”

“Of course you do…”I muttered as I thought about having Edward fly, I really did but I knew it be a superficial comfort at best. I would still be insanely scared and I’d actually feel better having Edward beside me than away where I couldn’t see him. “No, I mean yes a little, but overall no and then I would be bothered cause you were in there and I couldn’t see you.” That last part confused him, I could tell by his weighted silence. “I don’t know why but seeing people I know right next to me helps me be calm.” With that he made a sound of understanding and went back to his computer, typing for a moment and then putting it to sleep, closing it, and storing it on the chair next to him.

“Wait a minute,” Grimm said right behind me, he must be either leaning forward or didn’t have his seatbelt on. “You’re afraid of flying?” I heard the others move up in their seats as well as I continued to glare at the wall. “Holy shit…The Executioner is afraid of flying.” He finished his voice filled with disbelief.

I would have liked to have said some snarky comment to that but at that precise moment the plane was starting to pick up speed and I knew what was coming next. I just really, **_really_** , didn’t like it. I blocked out all noise, especially the engine, and continued to stare down the wall. I felt my heart rate accelerate with the plane to the point of cornered animal about to die, when I felt the first stomach drop feeling that indicated that we were now defying gravity, I paled and felt the arm rest strain against the pressure of my fingers. I knew that one mechanical or human mistake was going to kill us and there was nothing that I could do about it. I could hear Edward talking but for the life of me I couldn’t decipher his words.

The problem with flying is not the flight it’s self but the memories it brings. I know that I can’t get out of this place if need be, not without certain death. This idea of being trapped always brought back the closet. I can still hear the laughter, feel the pain of the welts left from the beating before it, the terrible smell coming from my unwashed body, the grating in my throat from both screaming and the lack of moisture and worse of all I remember the voice on the other side of the door. I always remember what they said word for word and the coldness of their voice… “She’s unwell. Until she’s free of…that, she is not to be removed from the room,” huh, room they always called it that even though it was 5’ x 5’ with shelves for laundry, all empty of course; they couldn’t have me dirtying their precious covers with my stink and permeating evil now could they. “…she must learn the lesson in full. Once that is accomplished to our satisfaction she can then leave.” What lesson? This was never specified and it was never clear as to how they would determine that my ‘lesson’ was ‘learned’. “You! Set a candle in this hallway and make it pleasant. Just because she’s in there does not mean that she has to smell like an animal.” Which was something that I had no control over, they gave me a bucket with an ill-fitting lid for a bathroom and no way to wash myself, which is just a recipe for bad smells in the hallway.

Someone pulling at my fingers on the arm rest snapped me back to the here and now. I dropped my eyes to look at my hand to find Edward prying my fingers from the arm rest. I looked up to his face, seeing that his lips were moving, he was saying something again. I don’t know what he said, it was like I was in shock or something, I was starting to get tunnel vision and I couldn’t hear anything but the pounding of my blood in their veins and arteries. For the first time in my life I think I was about to faint and then it hit me, the spell. I used such a large amount of energy for it that it left me only with the reserves. The moment we landed I was going to have to feed the _ardeur_ again, either that or have the boys do it for me.

I felt air and skin against my palm which startled me. I looked down to find Edward holding my now limp hand, oh yeah he was trying to get me to let go of the arm rest. I looked for said arm rest only to find it gone, I looked at Edward confused. He was trying to tell me something again, damn it why can’t I hear him? I just continued to stare as I felt my eye lids begin to droop. The last thing I remember was Edward unbuckling my seat belt and pulling me into his side and then nothing at all.


	9. Planes...Terrible

Chapter 9

The next thing I knew, I was once again in the desert, looking, always looking. The dream played out the same way it had before, even with the addition of reaching to touch the ice, but this time when I touched it I didn’t wake. Instead I felt my hand begin to heat up, and the ice begin to slowly melt from under my palm. As the water hit the ground it felt as if the desert took a breath for the first time and as I watched the water roll past my feet, I expected it to be absorbed into the ground, but as it rolled it gained momentum and went from a small line of water to a rather large stream. The more the water that melted and fell to the ground the bigger and faster the stream went until it was a raging river. I knew that this should bother me but the more the water melted and the closer I got to the tree, the better I felt. And the better I felt the hotter my hand got until it felt like someone was holding it.

It was like just thinking that conjured Edwards hand on mine. He was standing right next to me with his hand covering mine staring at the tree. Except now there was two trees, they looked exactly the same except my tree was black as if it had been burned, and his was Silver. The additional tree made the original block of ice twice as big, but with Edward’s added warmth the ice was melting twice as fast. I don’t know what it was but it felt like I was a part of Edward and he was a part of me. I have no idea why, but I knew he knew every emotion and thought I had as he was feeling and thinking the same exact things I was. Nothing was separate, we were one, and we had no idea why this dream was like this but I knew there was magic, just as I knew that this really was Edward here and he knew this really was me. Something was calling us here but it felt so good to do this, to continue this until we finish. Neither of us said a word as we melted the ice, neither did we look around. That was we didn’t until we felt something touch our leg. As one we looked down to find the desert sand had changed into fertile ground full of flowers, tall grass, insects, and as we looked to the side of us to see trees of all kinds were sprouting up; apple, orange, pine, maple, everything.

Then we turned and looked at each other, I mean really looked, and I saw him. I could see the light of his soul shining, just as he could see mine, and with every drop of water melted from the block in front of us, a little more of his essence would shine through. A little more of him, the real him would show and I knew the same was happening to me too.

Then everything went black and I could hear the guy’s whispers. “So clearly there is more to their relationship than their saying.” That sounded like Imp, which was weird since he shouldn’t be in my room talking.

“You’re not kidding,” I heard some shuffling around before Grimm? Said “You think they’re an old flame or something?”

“They could be but I think it’s something else, something deeper than that. I mean I have ex’s and I sure as hell don’t treat them the way Edward is treating her.” Was that Reaver? There was a sigh, “Hell, I’ve **_seen_** him deal with his ex’s and he’s never done anything even close to this!”

I heard someone suck their teeth, “I’ve seen him deal with women while they were still together and he’s never been this… I don’t know affectionate? Caring? Or, God help me… loving.” That dry voice of foreboding was definitely Jackson. What the hell was going on? I quickly pushed myself to consciousness ready to give them a piece of my mind. Not only were they in my sleeping space talking, but they were talking about me and Edward and our very **non** -relationship. 

“This conversation is great and all, but we have no idea what we’re heading into right now. Edward has all the answers we need, both for the mission and this most interesting tid-bit of gossip,” I could feel the annoyance radiating off of the others at his, very apropos, phrasing. “Right now we need for them both to wake up to get on with this mission so we can finish it.” I felt the grudging acceptance of Slick’s words from the other men and they were once again silent.

As I continued to wake I became aware of a continuous low hum that sounded suspiciously of an engine. A HUGE engine. That distinct sound brought my mind up to speed on where I was and who I was with, but more importantly it jump started all my other senses. Wait if Jackson and his brother were talking with the rest of the men, who was flying the damn plane? I could hear the heart beat under my ear, smell the gun oil and metal, feel the hard, yet not, human body under me. I was laying right on top of someone, and the only person unaccounted for was Edward. I wasn’t freaking out, although if it had happened any other time I would have, I was just curious as to how we ended up like this and how long I had been out, him too for that matter. I remembered the dream in its entirety and I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Edward was going to remember and know that I would as well. I didn’t know what this magic was and why it was happening to us, especially now with this mission, but it was and we would have to figure this thing out along the way. The weird thing about all of this was that I wasn’t alarmed by this magical intrusion, I know I should be but for the life of me I can’t work myself up to fight it.

I felt Edward awaken and I decided that now was as good a time as any to get up. It took me a minute to gather my strength to sit up, reminding me that the spell drained me dry, and I needed energy sooner rather than later and I had at least another 23 hours before we landed and I couldn’t wait. I thought I could but with the exhaustion catching up I can truthfully say that there is no way I can hold off for that amount of time. Sadly, it was time to talk to the boys again, but not until I was re-orientated with my surroundings and thoughts as a whole.

He took a moment to gage my mood and to contemplate whether or not he should talk to me about the magic and my overall health issue, aka the _ardeur_. He must have saw my complete exhaustion and figured that we could talk about the dream/magic thing after I have had time to recover. I felt his attention turn to the men in the plane, and I swear, if it wasn’t for the engine making constant noise you could have heard a pin drop. They knew he heard them and they were internally freaked, not knowing what kind of response that Edward will have to their continuous thoughts about our relationship. 

“I called you all here to do a specific job…” His voice was empty and low. I had trouble hearing him and I was right next to him, so I knew the guys would lean in to hear him, well I think they would if they didn’t think that Edward might scalp them. I guess that the dream bothered him more than I thought, usually he lets thing like this go; he doesn’t really care about gossip. Well I think he doesn’t. It’s never bothered him before, I frowned trying to once again decode Edward’s feelings. “The moment we touch down in Africa we have to move, and quickly, we have no time for delays and mistakes. Focus on the mission and we might just live through this.” I could feel the men’s chastisement lingering in the room like an expensive perfume, light but noticeable.

My hands were over my face to block out any extra light that may try to get in, I was so tired that I was getting a headache. The engine sounded louder than it should, the light brighter than needed, and the smell of airplane more potent than it had been when I got on it. I needed to solve this energy problem now, and since I felt a little more stable, in the sense that I wasn’t going to pass out again, I checked my mental shields once more and reached out to the links to the boys.

When I finally determined that I was magically stable enough to talk to the boys as well as mentally stable enough, i.e. I wasn't going to pass out again, I squared my shoulders and prepared for the onslaught. I wanted to procrastinate but our very lives depended on everyone in the group bring completely ready for anything that might be thrown at us. So, I pushed down my agitation at needing to do this, blocked out the plane and its inhabitants, and stepped into the magical waiting room of my mind that shows the various connections to the boys, my beasts, and my necromancy. 

I reached through the barrier that I had erected around the bonds to communicate with the boys, but instead of alerting the boys as I planned I was bombarded with disgust. I immediately pulled back from the bonds, back into my safe waiting area and was still reeling from the feeling. It felt like I had just taken a bath and then had immediately fallen into a sewer full of dead bodies: dirty, invasive, sickening, and blood curdling. Never have I been so adverse to the marks not even when I first got them. It was at that moment that I knew that Jean-Claude had lied to me. This magic that he gave me is not me, it's an extension of him, and just like I could call the anger back to me from Richard, he could have called the _ardeur_ back to him. The only reason the _ardeur_ reacts different with me than with him is that my magic has begun to heal over the leech and assimilate it to make it less of a virus and more of a boon, but it was like a tumor that can removed at any time. The fucker was using it to control me, to keep me coming back for more rather that leaving and finding my happiness. It's always about the fucking power with him! I thought he loved me, and you know what, I'll be fair and say that I really do think that he does love me, but that doesn't put his obsession with power out of commission. All the pain I went though, all the ridicule they gave me for being upset with the shit I had been handed. All the times they had me apologize for being upset that they forced themselves on me when I didn't want them too, just to make them feel better about themselves, pissed me off. I was beyond anger at this point. I was at rage and I had the perfect targets, for I had no doubt that the others knew what was going on and supported it. Rather than setting me free to find true love, like I would have for them, they took that option from me and tried to trick me into staying forever, the dicks. 

My anger was making me light headed, indicating that I wasn't breathing. I forced myself to take a few breaths and to calm a little, to avoid passing out again. At the moment I was stuck with the _ardeur_ , although during this trip I will also be focused on removing the marks, the _ardeur_ , all of it. I was done; with them and their lies and their magical manipulation...no more. I was going to cleanse myself of them metaphysically, and physically, and start new again. It is past time. I pulled on my resolve, and put that energy straight into my shields, tripling the strength to insure that they would stay out of my mind and only hear what I wanted them to know. When I was ready I reached through my shield to touch the marks. I had to grit my teeth against the disgust and vomit that crawled up my throat. The part of me out of the shield, reaching for the marks felt tingly, like thousands of spiders were crawling all over me. What should have taken a second felt like hours, every micro second I wanted to recoil and never reach past my shields again, but this had to be dealt with. I finally got to the marks, gave a firm tug and quickly recoiled back into my shields. It was a good thing too because the moment I recoiled the boys surged from their marks, trying to flood my shield with so much stimulation that they would break. If they had succeeded they would have landed right in my mind. They would have had access to my inner most thoughts and it would have been a bitch to get them back out into their zones once it was accomplished, but since I had tripled my security and was so insanely strong mentally that the strongest metaphysical monsters of the world couldn't break them, it was nothing but a tap on my shields. Although, they could have gotten in if I had left that tiny hole in my shield, that I had made to alert the marks, open they would have been able to ride that piece of me back into my mind. 

...I was massively pissed, sorry enraged once more. Not only were they lying to me and taking everything I was offering this entire time, but now they wanted even the secrets of me that I didn't know I had because they felt that they weren't getting enough of a sacrifice from me right now. I know that their **concerned** for me and are **scared** of my current state of mind, but those **genuine** feelings do not excuse trying to take away my mind. I wasn't even assuming what they were thinking, they pushed themselves so hard at my shields that their plan backfired and instead of them seeing everything in my mind I could see everything in theirs. Fucking Idiots. 

Once they realized their mistake and how badly it backfired, they all tried to draw back to a more reasonable distance. None of them said anything, they knew trying to apologize right now would do nothing but piss me off more, and they didn't even know how far passed pissed I already was. I spoke carefully, knowing that if I get too excited I’ll do something rash and hurt Edward’s mission. I managed with only one slip up, but it was generally controlled. " If any of you mother fuckers try that shit again, not only will I kill you...but I will draw that shit out for as long as I can and if I need to ask Edward to offer his services in that area I will be _MORE_ than happy to do so. Just as Edward would be **_EC-FUCKING-STATIC_** to give it his all, as he's been patiently waiting for this moment for a very...long...time."

I had spent energy on them, risked my life for them, and all I ever receive is nothing but complete asshole tactics. I’m tired of it, and some might say “but Anita they risk their lives for you! They show their love for you!” Oh really? When? The only time their lives are in danger it’s from their personal shit, with the exclusion of the ONE time they were held hostage by a psychopath. Their show of love is a kiss on the cheek and a complaint that I don’t give enough time, energy, myself, and whatever to them. That I’m being difficult for not wanting to sleep with men I didn’t personally chose to like, that the _ardeur_ chose. That I need to get over my personal trauma of my child abuse and multiple rapes, from when the _ardeur_ began, and it was rape. On multiple occasions I had said no, I pushed them away, I cried, I begged and they did it anyway. It was a date rape drug that Micah, Nathaniel, Richard, Jean-Claude and every other man around me at the time took full advantage of. And what did I get for being upset about it? “Your being difficult Anita” or “ _Ma petite_ , it’s just sex.” Now they expect me to love a man, sorry I meant multiple men, that raped me on multiple occasions, treated me like shit when I cried about, and demand more from me. And they sit there and wonder why I’m so emotionally unavailable.

The only person I had chosen, without the _ardeur’s_ influence was Nicky. I had used it on him, but it didn’t make him love me or I love him. Yes, he likes to keep me happy, but that’s all that’s really changed in either of us. He was the only one that I can truly be emotionally attached too, because he and I loved each other without the magic clouding our judgment and connecting us to each other without consent. He’s the only one of the boys that I consciously chose to care about, to love and to be loved from. The only other person who fit that requirement was Edward, neither of them ever forced me to be or do something that I didn’t want (kidnapping didn’t count, it was work and not personal). They never took my choices away from me and for that I will never, **never** let them down.

“The four of you are going to listen, do what I tell you, and accept all future communication on my terms. If you do anything other than that, the moment I get a chance, Edward and I are having a very…looonnnggg conversation about what should be done about that.” I quieted the rage that I had been suppressing for all these years so I could end this conversation. “Now I need the ardeur feed and am in no position to do so. So, one of you is going to do it for me.”

“I will…” Nathaniel’s voice was quite, barely a whisper. I knew he wasn’t involved in this asinine plan and that he was dragged into it. Hell, I know Damien was against it too. Truthfully I had no real qualm with the two of them. They were forced into this just as I was, and although Nathaniel did take advantage of the _ardeur_ he was just doing what he was taught to do from the time he was eight. I couldn’t fault him for his faults, it’s all he knows. Richard and Jean-Claude… those two are at the center of everything, the beginning and the end, well… soon it’ll be the end.

“Thank you…” my voice went softer for Nathaniel, but hardened once more for my first triumvirate benefit. “My marks are closed until I open them. You get nothing from me that I don’t give.” Before they could argue I closed the marks, leaving a small window to Nathaniel open for the energy. It took me about 20 minutes to get the sustenance that I needed. As I refueled I calmed myself so I could focus on the mission at hand and the various magic’s that I still have to review before we were to land. I also needed more information on the priest I was to meet with and to see if anyone found anything out about our mystery multi-dimensional world ender.

I took one last calming breath, locking the last of my anger away in its pit once more and let the outside environment penetrate my senses. Edward was once again sitting quietly next to me typing away on his computer. I could hear Grimm talking, seemingly to no one, so I was assuming that he was on his phone. I heard the quite chatter between the brothers once again located in the cockpit, thank god. I could hear some of the paper shifting from the others and, of course, the plane engine. That damn plane engine. I opened my eyes slowly to adjust to the light of the cabin. Once I’ve blanked the blurriness from my vision I did a quick scan around the plane, finding everyone in pretty much the same position as before, but more subdued.

I looked to Edward to find him staring back, question in his eyes. I gave a small nod and slight smile, giving him the all clear, at least in the aspect of the _ardeur_. He didn’t move, not even a blank and my smile wilted into suspicion. His stare intensified as he slowly straightened from his slouching, a gleam flickering in his eyes, too rapidly for me to give an emotion to. The taller he sat the more I slouched and leaned away, internally freaking out. Finally I couldn’t take it anymore. “What?” I snapped, drawing the guy’s attention. They plane got eerily quiet as they took in Edward and my position. Apparently me talking was the wrong thing to do. His jaw clenched and that cold anger shimmered in his eyes. He slowly shut his computer, never breaking eye contact mind you, threw the computer to the side and stood, now glaring at me. He gave a stiff head jerk to the back of the plane and walked away.

I knew he expected me to follow him but I didn’t want too. I **_really_** didn’t want to, but I knew I had too. So, I brought my self to the quite spot in my head where the anxiety of facing Edward didn’t exist, and stood and followed. The men were looking at me like it was my death walk to the gallows, so quiet and somber. I ignored them, the potential danger was waiting just inside some back room that I had not seen when I came on the plane. Then again I wasn’t paying much attention to the plane and all of its accessories when I got on, just my phobia of flying.

I don’t know where the boys got this plane but it had to be expensive. There was a freaking king size bed, with a head and base boards, twin side dressers, a closet and what seemed to be a three piece bathroom with a beautiful shower. The brothers really pulled out all the stops. I wonder whose plane this was. The second I cleared the door Edward shut it putting him behind me which is not a very good position for me.

He moved from the door to lean against the wall between the bathroom and the closet. He was still radiating anger, for what… I had a feeling I was about to find out.

“You spoke to the boys?” I gave a cautious nod. He knew I would have to contact them, I know he figured out I was low on energy and would need it. What was scaring me right now was that I didn’t know where he was going with this. “What did they say?”

I shrugged, unsure of what he wanted from me. “Nothing for the most part and Nathaniel fed the _ardeur_ for me?…” What should have been a statement came out as a question.

He pushed from the wall to stand right in front of me, anger flowing off him like the evaporation from dry ice. “Then why are you so angry?” I took a step back, surprised that he could tell. Damn man can read me better than I thought. “What did they do?” His eyes flashed violence “And don’t lie to me.”

I bit my lip, looking down at the floor to avoid his eyes and the ‘I told you so look’ that he had every right to give me. I wasn’t going to lie to him: One, he can read me way too well for that to even be a viable option, two, I don’t lie to him anyway, and three, I need to tell someone and I had only two people I felt comfortable talking to right now, one was him and the other being Nicky. He also needed to know what was going on, so if something went wrong with me he could compensate and plan around it. He would also know where to target his resources to help me out if the boys get the upper hand somehow. See, many reasons not to lie to my best friend. Many reasons to tell him about how I failed, about how I hurt, about the rage I was feeling, the betrayal and the hate.

“They lied to me…” my voice was quiet, barely a whisper. “The _ardeur_ …” the word came out of my mouth like a curse. “It’s not permanent. Jean-Claude could have rid me of it years ago.” The pain of voicing this betrayal, hurt me so emotionally it became a physical weight in my head and my soul. My voice cracked and tears began to form, I held them back refusing to let them fall. “Years Edward… Fucking years…” I lost the battle before it could begin. My shoulders began to shake as I let the anger out, the tears came faster and my voice was raw. “I’ve hated myself because of this. I’ve begged him before, multiple times to take this back. Fucking begged and he didn’t, he could have but he didn’t. He let me suffer.” My voice broke at the last and I couldn’t breathe past the knot in my throat for a moment. Edward came close, putting his hand on the back of my neck, forcing me to lay my head on his shoulder. I felt so heavy I couldn’t bring my arms up to hug him, they just stayed limp at my sides. I burrowed my head into his neck, taking what contact I could. “It forced me to do so many things I hate, I hated doing it and I hate it looking back at it. I feel so dirty Edward, I always have, but this… I’ll never be clean.” I had to stop. I wasn’t breathing, I needed to breathe. It took a moment to clear my throat enough to suck in a large breath of air. “I was going to break it off with them after Santa Fe…” I shook my head, “I wasn’t going to stay… I didn’t love them.” My voice went back to a barely audible whisper, “Instead they trapped me, and made me think that I could never leave, never find someone that would actually love me and I him. That’s all I’ve ever wanted my entire life after my mother died. I just wanted someone I could be myself with and love. Sure we might not have had kids, but it would have been enough.” As I let it out, each word lifted piece of the weight from me. It was enough to lift my arms to his waist, grab his shirt and hung on. “They knew that Edward, and they did it anyway. I’ve been a slave to this, dealing with it, thinking I had no other choice, and they’ve had the key to my freedom the whole time. Hiding it in plain sight.” I gripped him tighter and his arm circled my back as I wiped my tears off on his shirt. “They don’t know that I know. They don’t know that I figured it out.” I had that damn hitch in my voice again, “They tried to break through my mental shields when I contacted them.” His arm tightened in reflex, he was upset. “They got nowhere close to making it but, Edward… their trying to take all of me that I don’t want to give. It already took me long enough just to figure out that they lied. They already took parts of me I didn’t want to give. I’m done, I’m tired, and most of all I feel so stupid. I should have known. I should have looked harder. I should have just fucking listened to you…” They had been slowing down but the tears were back in full strength again.

He tilted my head up to kiss my forehead, but no further. He knew I didn’t want him to see me like this. “Don’t do that. Do not blame yourself for believing that they were better than they are.” His hand tightened on my neck pulling me closer to him, my safe zone. “This is on them, not you.” I gave a nod feeling better that Edward didn’t blame me. Not much better, but better all the same. “Do you need their cooperation to remove the _ardeur_? And can you get rid of the marks?”

“I don’t know, but I already planned to use this time to look into it.” I shrugged, “who knows, maybe the voodoo priest will know something that can help.” I was finally gaining control of myself. The tears were falling slower and the pain and anger were manageable again, so the weight, for the time being, was lifted.

“Just tell me what you need, and I will do what I can to help, you know that.” I smiled into his neck and nodded. I knew he would, he didn’t have to say it. For whatever reason Edward loved me and I loved him, maybe not romantically but it was enough for us. “But, just so you know, they’re on my list.” I stiffened, I knew what that meant and I knew he would say it, but there are innocent people involved too. Edward was not going to take that into account, for him, if one is guilty then they all are. I thought about arguing but I knew that right now was not the time, he needed to cool off before he would even consider leaving one of the boys alive. He must have known what I was thinking as his body grew stiff and his voice grew colder than an Alaskan winter as he spoke quietly into my ear. “They…are on…my list, and nothing you say is going to save them.” With that he released me, took a step back making me let go, and left the room before I could look at him. The entire conversation was started and finished without me seeing his facile expressions. One because I didn’t want him to see me but also because he didn’t want me to see him. I know, as surely as the wind blows that his eyes were a reflection of what’s to come. His eyes showed the boy’s death and just how terrible it would be. He knew that even though I’ve had enough that I wouldn’t want to see all of the boys dead, maybe even none of them, I’m too angry right now to say for sure. He was being considerate, in his Edward way, and that just made me love him more, but I at least had to talk him out of killing all of them. A lot of the men were victims too and they didn’t deserve to die for that.

I looked at the closed door to the cabin full of assassins and took a deep breath. There was nothing I could do about it right now, so for the time being I needed to focus on the job. I went into the bathroom and washed my face to remove the evidence of tears and held a cold rag to my eyes to limit the swelling. When I was presentable again I went out to find everyone studiously working on their tasks, trying not to think about what just happened and what it might mean. They were failing, I could totally see their distracted demeanors from the door way. This thing with me and Edward was bothering them to no end, but they were managing to do their work so it was okay for now.

I walked to Edward, stole his extra laptop from his bag, put on a playlist with my head phones on and began studying my spell archive again. Now looking for a way to break the marks as well as prepare for the unseeable future.

Once comfortable, I got into the grove of studying the spell pattern, the words of the spell, the objects needed, then put it all together, and rinse-dry-repeat. Other than some chatter between the men, we had been working quietly for the past 10 hours. That left us with just a measly 9 hours before we can finally get off this fracking plane. Apparently, Edward and I had slept for 4 hours when we dreamed together, and that was another thing. The dream, we haven't discussed it and the implications of it. The fact that someone, or something is using magic on us but that we don't seem to care is worrisome, or it should be. As I've studied hundreds of spells by now, I have found nothing that explains the dream sharing that we had done, nothing to give me a clue as to what it could mean. I guess this is something else that I would discuss with the priest. Speaking of, I needed more information on the man and what he is expecting of me. I look around the cabin for Grimm, not finding him. I sighed, he must be in the room sleeping. During the plane ride all the guys have been taking turns sleeping in the back for a few as they had all been up for almost 32 hours. We needed them all on the top of their game, and that meant being well rested. Imp and Reaver had already gone and Slick just slept on the bench where, I assume, is a conference area. The benches along the wall in a semicircular fashion facing each other kind of gives it away. Although why they put it right outside the door of the bedroom I don't know. Edward and I were sitting in the regular airplane style seating next to the cock pit, there are about three rows of that on either side of the aisle before it hits the bench seating. The seats were big and comfortable like the seats you get in first class, and yet somehow the entire plane felt spacious and uncluttered. Whoever had designed this was going for comfortable and opulent but useful, and they succeeded. 

It's been hours now since we talked and I can still feel the anger radiating off of Edward. I needed to do something to calm him, he's way too upset, and it might not be good for the mission. I say might since he's never let something come in the way of his goal, but I've never seen him this angry before, so I don't feel confidant assuming what action he'll take. 

"How are the spells coming along?" Edward asked speaking for the first time since the big reveal. I could still see the anger in his eyes when he looked at me, but he was doing his best to continue with business as usual. 

"I forgot a lot of the ritual stuff, but with the refresher I feel confident with dealing with it if it occurs." 

"You find anything that might help?"

I knew he was referring to the boys. I shook my head and I saw frustration in his eyes. He wanted me away from them so he can do all those lovely things floating around in his head without fear of hurting me. "Edward this is going to take time. I know that's not what you want to hear but it is what it is." I smiled as I leaned in closer and lowered my voice so the others wouldn't hear, "I want the marks and _ardeur_ gone just as much as you do, maybe even more. For the first time I have a chance at starting over, and I'm taking it. So don't worry Edward the minute I find what I need to accomplish it, I'll tell you all about it. I promise." He clenched his jaw before releasing the tension in his body and pushing it to the back of his mind. He knew I was right and he knew the rules as well as I did. If you can't do anything about it than focus on something you can do something about: assassin rule number 1. "What are we doing when we land?"

"Grimm already has transportation for us the moment we get the there. We're not following any laws in landing, so we have to be quick. The brothers found an open field and cloaked the plane to be digitally invisible. They also hacked into the towers radio wave and so they can avoid all other birds in the sky, even military. Imp found the targets current location in Russia, apparently something went wrong at their base and it caused a national catastrophe, which left an opening for his contacts to get that information. The Russian government is trying to keep it on the down low, so it's been difficult to get the details, we just know about 11 thousand people died. Might have been something wrong with the weapons he's making, the magic’s he's using, or the facility we don't know. We still don't know what he looks like but we now know he's called Crenshaw. We got different first names but his last name was always the same." He pulled out a file, I hadn't noticed from under his laptop, "I figured you would want to know more about the voodoo priest so I had Grimm and the brothers look into him more so you know what you’re working with."

I took the information completely in awe. "How in the holy hell did you get all of this without me knowing?" The bastard didn't answer, he just gave me his name brand 'I know something you don't know smile' and turned back to his computer. I wanted to be more upset with his secret keeping but I couldn't. He was more relaxed than before and I had the information that I wanted without asking. We spent the rest of the time trading off sleep times, snaking on what was available (great plane but very little food), and gathering information: bombs for Slick, magic for me, underground for Imp, above ground for Grimm, and digitally for the brothers. Edward periodically checked on us, trying to come up the best game plan he could with the little information he had. It was decided, by Edward, that we continued on our way to Africa even though Crenshaw was in Russia. Both Imp and Grimm were able to get people into the lower levels of Crenshaw's operations, so, for now, we have a way to track him. We need information before we dive head first into anything and I definitely need to know about the portals, how they work, and how to close one that's been opened by someone else. The only person we have that knows anything about it is the voodoo priest, Aknah. At the moment, things were working out positively, and life was good... but it would be better if I could get off this damn plane! 


	10. African Adventures

Chapter 10

Everyone was strapping on their weapons and storing the equipment that we would be leaving behind. We were 20 minutes out from the landing sight and we were coming in during the night to cloak our arrival. I was just happy that my feet would be on the ground once more.

“Once we land we have to cover the plane with the camouflage canvas stored in the bottom. We don’t want anybody being able to fly over and see it.” Edward said, he’s been briefing us on the plan for the past 40 minutes though no one’s complaining. It’s better to be safe than sorry. “We’re going to have to walk 2 klicks to get to the transportation waiting for us. As we move I want someone back tracking to remove our tracks.” Imp picked his head up and gave a two finger hand raise to indicate that he would take on that responsibility. “As Imp does that,” Edward continued, making sure that we all knew who took that job so we could focus on ours. “I want Anita keeping tabs on any magic in the area or possible magical traps and so on.” I gave a nod as I continued to strap my grenades into their rightful spots in my bag. “I want one brother searching for heat signatures in a one klick radius as the other looks for active technology and radio waves, same radius.” Both pilots nodded their ascension. “Anita and I will take point, Grimm and Slick will watch our six. I shouldn’t have to say it, but everyone stays alert. We don’t know what we’ll be dealing with when we touch down.”

“Ten minutes…”

“The minute we get to transportation we will change into our tourist clothing. An acquaintance of mine owns a safari, that’ll be our ride into and out of the village. He would appreciate it if we don’t draw attention to him and his profession, so keep it clean.” We all gave the nod/grunt of agreement. “Our cover is simple, a group of Americans looking for a thrill. We met through an amateur extreme group. This is our first activity as a group, this is so no one wonders at our surprising lack of comradery.” Sarcasm thick in his voice it was… Anyone who doesn’t do Yoda speak is crazy, it’s fun trying to mix up the words but still somehow make it sensible. “We have no official name, we talked online, met up, it just worked out. We will stick with this story until said otherwise. It’ll work as a good explanation as to why we’re in the places we are and have some of the things we do. It gives us some leeway and it doesn’t hurt that we’re all Caucasian and above average in looks. They’ll make more allowances for us than others because of it but not much.” He looked right at me, warning in his eyes, “stay in character and keep out of trouble.” I wrinkled my nose at being singled out but I got the meaning. No hot temperedness, stay out of people’s faces…pretty much keep my mouth shut. Got it.

“Strap in, we’re going down in three.” Reaver said keeping us updated. The brothers had packed their bags hours ago to ensure that they wouldn’t have to worry about it when it came time for them to focus on landing.

Everyone strapped in as Edward finished his briefing, “Make sure, even though you should completely avoid it, whatever gun you do use is silenced with untraceable rounds, no reason to advertise ourselves. Once we touch down we have an hour to get to the pickup site before our ride leaves. We’re hitting the ground running, literally. Once we land radios are on and after the initial check we will have radio silence, it better be damn important to break it. We should be back in this plane by this time tomorrow to move on to Russia. Hopefully we learn what we need here to take him down.” I felt Edwards eyes sharpen on me with the words ‘learn what we need’. He was hiding it, but he was still pissed at the boys and he wanted me away from them the moment it’s possible and not a second later. I didn’t look at him, I just started at the wall, ignored his stare and focused on controlling my pulse as the plane made its descent. I get why he wants the marks broken, he’s never liked the boys in my life. I just don’t understand why he cares so much. This was also something I would be investigating during this mission. I need to know what’s motivating him. In the past I could ignore it but now people’s lives hang in the balance. If I know, I might be able use it to calm him a little.

I felt the wheels hit the ground and I immediately relaxed. The plane taxied for a short time before coming to a full stop. Immediately everyone went into action like a well-oiled machine. It only took five minutes for the brothers to shut down the plane, Slick, Imp and Reaver to cover the plane, and everyone to gather what was needed to move on through the woods to the pickup site.

Many only know Africa for its savanna’s, but it also has forests, many of them, and it’s really beautiful. I didn’t have much time to stop and smell the roses, but even alert, using my magic as I work to quietly move through and search the forest, I didn’t miss its beauty.

The run through the jungle was relatively uneventful. There was a moment we might have had to deal with a big cat, not sure which kind one of the brothers just warned us of a feline close by, but we were able to avoid the danger and make it to the rendezvous in record time. There were two men waiting for us, each with a safari jeep behind them. I couldn’t tell the color nor the insignia of the company they represented in the dark but the vehicles looked hale and hearty to deal with the terrain which was more important anyway.

Edward led the group to the two men. The smaller of the two was staring at me with open curiosity. I stared right back not knowing what to expect from him or what he wanted. Both men were in great shape and held an arura of confidence mixed with danger, and I wasn’t saying that because of their ethnicity. I know that there are a lot of people who immediately relate darker skinned people as more dangerous than lighter ones but it’s not true. A lot of the people who commit crimes are of the lighter persuasion, the cops aren’t looking for them and if they are their most likely not going to be shot on sight. I found that the darker the person is the more they work to keep their hands clean, they get more than enough unwanted attention from the negative side of life without adding to it. It’s the reason I liken prejudice against shifters to racism. Cops are will shoot a shifter before a human and they will shoot a black man before they do a white man, and many will feel justified with that response. I was lucky I got my father’s skin tone, if I had gotten my mothers, well… I think the cops are dicks now. I’m not even going to give that thought anymore brain time.

I don’t know what these men did before they got this job, but it left its mark on them; spiritually and physically. I could feel the void in their being from the things that they’ve done. I could also see the scars on their face. The taller man had about an inch of hair on his head, neatly cut, which allowed me to see the scar starting at his hair line trailing down to just above his left eye. It looked like a knife wound. That must’ve bled like a motherfucker when it happened. He also had a piece of skin missing from his right ear where there were small neat sliver gages, not the freaky big ones, but slightly bigger than a normal earring hole. It actually looked nice. The smaller man, whom was staring at me, even though he and Edward were having a quiet conversation, looked just as neat and yet rough. He had a deep scar around his collar bone that I could see above his loose flowing tank top. I guess it helps that your tour guide is almost as dangerous as the animals he’s taking you to see. It must give the consumers some much needed sense of security.

His dark eyes never turned from mine even though it had been an uncomfortably long time. I could feel the guys getting uncomfortable with tension in the air. Finally Edward finished whatever he needed to say and turned to the other man, whom led him to the other car. I would have followed if I wasn’t still having a staring contest with the first guy. Once his conversation with Edward was concluded his gaze sharpened and the tension rose. I still don’t know what he’s trying to do but I’m not going to back down if that’s what he expects. Finally Edward returned with his and the other guy’s hands full with what seemed to be hiking packs.

He purposely stepped between me and the smaller man, forcibly stopping the staring contest and shoved pack in my hand as the other man handed out the others to the men. I went to pull it from his grasp but he held it, forcing me to look at him. I could see the warning in his eyes, be nice he was saying. I raised my eye brown, indicating that I was being nice, I kept my mouth shut didn’t I. He gave me a minuscule smile, let go of the bag and turned to address the rest of the group.

“In these bags are your disguise, don it and stay in character until we’re back on our way. Keep your extras away.” He finished giving the others their bags before bringing his eyes back to me. “Keep it quiet.” I just gave him a bored stare as I opened my pack. Inside was a form fitting grey tank top, black shorts and a thigh holster for a knife. The boys started changing where they stood, for my comfort Edward had me change on the other side of the jeeps. I finished changing before the men did, guess I had less to put on. It gave me time to store my weapons and gear away in the hiking bag. I was putting the last of it away when I felt the presence of the smaller man behind me. There was no malice in it but I couldn’t be sure, so I stayed on guard as I continued to put the last of my gear away.

“You are a Sorcière.” He said in his, surprisingly, deep voice with a strong French accent. I didn’t respond as I finished closing the pack and putting it on my back as I turned to face him. Our gazes stayed locked for a few seconds before he decided to continue, “You’re hiding aren’t you?” He looked focused as I felt an energy gently brush against my shields. “What is it that you are looking to find here?”

I could tell that he was much stronger than most, and if he tried he might be able to get through my shields. I mean if he could see through my shielding so easily he must be one of the best, if not in using spells than at least in detection. I thought about lying to him but decided against it, it’s best to tell the truth when necessary. He might be connected to the voodoo priest we were going to see. “Answers.”

“To what questions?” He took a step forward. “You have more than one objective here do you not?”

I could feel the others taking notice of our conversation and since Edward wasn’t interfering I figured he was cool with me talking. “A very dangerous power is gathering to do evil. I need to know if others have felt it and where it’s coming from and how I can get there.”

“You don’t believe that an average mean of transportation is enough?” He asked, his gazed burning a hole into my very being, but I resisted looking away. This was a test. I knew without being told that if I failed that I wouldn’t be allowed to see the head honcho. He must have decided that I was powerful enough to be a threat.

I shook my head. “It is something magically related. I know that much, but I need more before I risk disrupting the energy of the earth.”

“What kind of magic? Do you believe what it is Vodoun? Is that why you seek the head priest?”

“No, I have had experience with Vodoun and this is not it. It’s something different…” I shrugged “I can’t name it. But I can say that I know that Vodoun, one of the oldest magic’s, will have an answer to my problem. It is also the only form of magic that I have found that has been able to detect this threat.”

He was quiet for a moment and then gave a small nod. “And the other answer you seek.”

For the first time I broke eye contact to look at the ground for a moment, centering myself. I have no idea why telling this man my personal problems unnerved me so much but it did. It’s one thing to tell Edward who knows everything and he won’t berate me, but some stranger and a bunch of nosy assassins? That bothered me. I sucked in a deep breath and looked him the eye once more, showing my sincerity the best I can. “I have a personal problem I need handled, and I need advice on how to…proceed.”

“What kind of advice for what kind of problem?”

“Magical. Through a course of convoluted events I have acquired some metaphysical leeches that I need removed. I have heard of things from my grandmother. She was also a Vodoun practitioner and taught me how to use and control my magic. She had spoken of ways to remove such things, but it was only mentioned in passing.”

“And why do you not go to your grandmother?”

“Because she’s dead… has been for five years.”

He didn’t flinch as most would have, no he just continued staring and accessing until finally he gave a sharp head jerk to the jeeps. I took this as indication that I should get in and that he found my answers satisfactory. As I turned to the first jeep, since it was the closets, I saw the other men ready with their bags on their backs and staring at me. Their faces were blank but I could smell their curiosity. I ignored it getting in the back as, thankfully, Edward got in the passenger seat. He had changed as well, gone was the commando and in his place was a Steve Erwin type of explorer, but less goody goody and more badass. This made me wonder what I looked like. All it took was a quick glance in the rear view mirror to see that I look like a shorter version of Lara Croft. Oddly it still matched Edward though, but in that ‘I happen to match him’ type of matching, not the planned matching some people do.

Jackson entered the other side taking the seat behind the passenger seat. He had a similar outfit to Edward but where Edwards was dark and monochromatic, his was colorful. Lot’s or reds, oranges, and yellows with traces of green and blue. The moment he was situated the laptop in his lap open, his fingers flying across the keys. The smaller man was close behind, getting behind the wheel, not giving the inhabitants of the car a second thought. Once I heard the smooth purr of the engine and the one behind us and we were on our way.

The ride was relatively quiet, the only sounds being the clicking of the laptop keys, the tires hitting the ground, and the low tones of the radio playing both native, I’m assuming, and American music. I decided to use this time to see if I can sense the portals without the technology as a focus since I know what I’m sensing. The driver guy already knew about me so I didn’t feel nervous about using a little bit of power. He won’t be able to get a good sense of my abilities with the taste I’m about to give, no more than he already has anyway.

I closed my eyes and focused my energy, looking for the power I got from the computer. If there is an opening here in Africa than I should be able to feel the rift between the two worlds, or singular world but alternate events, or something like that. I’m not an expert on alternate realities, it’s not really discussed in the classroom. I just assume that there is multiple realities based on the continuous decisions made or not made in life. Each moment creates another reality where something is slightly different happened, and if you make enough small adjustments you get a whole different evolution of the planet and it’s in habitants.

I felt the driver stiffen as my power passed over him, searching. He didn’t magically respond so I ignored him as I continued looking. For a while I as shifting through the clutter of the magic of the land, and the magic of the people. All lands have magic engrained in it, some neutral, some good and others bad. It’s why you get chills when you enter land with, what we call negative energy, but it is better described as black magic residue, or cursed land. Africa’s lands were actually more pure than most places that I’ve been. There are bad spots like anywhere but it’s a lot less than I thought, I guess a lot of their land is still natural and untouched. Surprisingly I found that were-animals are close in energy to the earth’s natural rhythm, so it took a second to completely make the separation. As I did so there was a spike, something that felt…I think there might be were-animal here that I know. The spike wasn’t long enough for me to be sure though and I have more important things to do right now, like find a terrorist.

When I finally got a feel for everything and was able to sort through the clutter I was able to really begin my search. I easily shifted through the noise, quickly finding the tiny trail that he had a habit of leaving behind. I felt him spike awareness, and backed off, making myself nothing but noise. I felt him check on the portal, leading me right to it. It was about 300 miles to the North West, the very direction we’re heading. So the priest was keeping close watch over it, I figured, but to be so close is a gamble. The man might sense him and send someone to deal with the threat, meaning we were very likely on a time limit shorter than what we had planned. As I felt the an pull back I realized that he had a spy. Someone was either working with him to review the portals, or following his aoura like I did, but the other was there. I lost the original in my surprise at another magic user being in the mix. The head guy just left, leaving a faint trail. If I had followed him imediately I could have tried to follow, but I was too slow. I qucikly gathered myself and decided to follow the second man, and yes it was a man. 

I could feel him pulling back. I was curious to see if I could get a location on him, so I trailed at a safe distance from his magic as to not out myself. It felt weird passing over whole countries, but the further I went the more of a blur it all became. The only thing keeping me on track was the feel of him. It felt like I was following him for hours until he finally stopped. I could see him sitting on a bed in a suit, although his jacket was off on the back of a chair in his very opulent room. His hair was white, but it must have come from a box, or he was born with it, because he was too young to have all white hair. He looked about late twenties and oddly attractive. I can’t explain it but his cheek bones were high and prominent. He had a full mouth, kissable by many standards, and pretty hazel eyes. If I didn’t know what he was, I would think he was a model. He was definitely fit, making me think he was trained in some form of martial arts. I have no idea why this, admittedly sexy, guy was trying to kill everyone, but he has to pay for it. Well, he would if he was indeed working with the other man and not just an innocent powerful human who happened to feel the magic and be curious. Not buying it? Yeah...Me neither.

Even though… 

I was tempted to stay and try to puzzle this out but I knew that would just increase the chance that he would feel me invading his space. So I backed off slowly, paying attention to the name and location of the house, sorry, mansion he was located in. I tried to mark as much security they had and where it was located. Apparently Edward’s information was right, he was in Russia all right, right at the edge of Siberia. Either he was the infomous Crenshaw or he happened to be right next to crenshaw, but I was betting her was the former. Which meant caution was necessary. There would be no way to sneak up on him at his fortress, we would have to figure something else out. With that I let my body pull me back to it. As I was pulled back to myself I couldn't stop thinking about him... I don’t know, something about him is so familiar. 

My eyes snapped open as I sat up in my seat. Only to find that I wasn’t in my seat but lying on the ground with everyone staring at me.

“Where did you go?”

I looked at the driver guy knowing that we were stopped because of him. “I followed the man’s magic.” I looked at Edward who was squatting next to me. “He’s where they said, but his location…” I shook my head. “We will not be able to infiltrate it with the number we have. He is heavily guarded by the land, people, whether… it’s all in his favor.” I gave a small smile, “But I can tell you what he looks like, how large his numbers, at the very least, the mansion and the layout of his base.”

“He feel you?” Edward asked still studying me trying to determine if I was truly okay.

“No, but now I know I can feel him without the technology wherever he is in the world.”

At that he smiled. We were one slight step closer to getting this guy, but first we had to meet this priest. We need more practical magic information to be effective in solving this thing. Edward read my thoughts and nodded in agreement.

“He was checking this portal opening.” I looked to the driver, “the priest is too close to it. If he doesn’t move back he’s going to sense him…” I left the rest unsaid. He knew what would happen, and his response solidified my assumption. He immediately took out his phone, communicating the danger to whomever was on the other end in some other language. The other guy was waved over to the one on the phone. I took advantage of the little privacy we had to tell them something I didn’t want them to know. “He felt familiar…” I whispered. Everyone moved closer to hear, but I ignored them and stared at Edward intently. “I feel like I know him but I can’t place where.”

“An acquaintance?” Imp asked.

I shook my head, “Nah, he was something else…I know him…I just…” I shook my head, no time to think about it. "There's something else. He was only one of two. He was following the original magic users energy."

Edwards gaze sharpened on my and the others glanced at me in surprise. "Two?"

"I could only follow one. He was the second, not the original. I'm not sure if I'm saw Crenshaw, or another part of the oprations. Or if Crenshaw is a different section altogether." I shrugged. "I do know that I'll be able to follow the other one the next he checks." I grimiced. "We might have to stop again when I follow the other one."

Reaper went to say something but didn't get the chance. Grimm cleared his throat signaling that our private time was up. The boys dispersed and moved directly to their appropriate vehicles. The drivers gave us suspicious looks but did the same as the others, Edward gave me a hand up. It was only then that I realized he had let me lay my head on his jacket as a pillow. Such a gentleman that one.

Without another word we once again loaded up and headed out. It was quiet for a time but I couldn’t ignore this. I needed to know. “Why was I outside on the ground?”

“You were shadow walking, it is something that is best done when the body is stationary and connected to the earth.” Driver guy gave me a quick look in the mirror. “Although from what I just witnessed, you do not need such grounding and ceremony. You must be strong indeed and hiding much from me if shadow walking is a simple thing for you. How often have do you do such?”

I frowned, “Never. That was my first time doing that. I just figured if he could do it then so could I…”

He gave me a shocked look in the mirror for so long I thought he might need a reminder that he was driving. Once it got to the point of dangerous he turned back to the…road?...I’m not sure driving through untouched land can be called a road in any form of the word but there has yet to be a phrase made for driving through the natural world. There weren’t even present tire tracks in the ground. I have no idea how these people were finding these out of the way towns.

“I have never heard of something like this before.” He said more to himself.

“What do you mean?”

“Shadow walking is one of the most difficult and dangerous thing a magic user can do. It takes years of training to even get to the point of leaving the body. Much less finding a particular energy, following it to a whole different part of the world, while simultaneously keeping out of their detection radius, controlling the speed of which you leave and return to the body enough to look around, and finding and reentering your body so smoothly. I have never heard of someone being a natural at it and if I didn’t just see it and believe you, I would call you liar, but I know you are not.” He shook his head, muttering something in his language before the car once more lapsed into silence.

I figured that Edward not commenting or cutting me off meant that I had done well, but I knew that both the guys and Edward are going to want more information later on both the feeling of familiarity with the guy, the original guy and the magic expedition I had. There was nothing I could do with the magic portion as I can only describe what I did and that’s it, but I can try to figure out this mystery man, or men. It was a while ago, was it before I met Edward?...Yes, but how far back? Were we childhood friends? No that’s not right. I don’t think we were ever friends…or were we? I don’t think I knew him as a child…young adult maybe? Teenager? Wait, maybe we were children?

I had been focusing so hard on trying to think of where I had met the guy before that I hadn’t realized the town coming into focus until we were in it. That meant that I was distracted for at least two hours and missed two different opportunities to track the other guy. Damn it! I need to focus, I can't get lost in my head like that. Paying attention to my surroundings again I looked at the town for potential threats. It was small, clean, some might even say homey. There was only one two-story building and we were heading right for it. I assumed that it was some kind of bus station type of place from the small busses that were waiting in little terminals for their arranged departure. The driver brought the car through a gated area that said ‘long-term parking’ in both English, French, and some other language.

Once both cars were parked side by side we all got out and made a small semi-circle. “Anita and I are going to meet the priest. You gents can do some sightseeing.” Edward said in an Australian accent. I don’t know what his new name was but I still found it weird that he was so good at this changing personality’s thing, but I knew I had to practice while I had the chance. So I changed my stance to be more lax, tilted my head and gave myself a tick. Nothing big, just playing with the hem of my shorts. I thought of trying an accent but I don’t think that I’m at that level.

With that we broke the huddle with me and Edward following the drivers, I really need to learn their names, and the guys going to do whatever is their real job was.

The bus station was directly in the middle of the town, so when it only too ten minutes for us to walk to the outer reaches of it to see the priest, I knew that this place was about a mile in diameter, maybe more. Later I’ll investigate the were-animals thing. It was actually very close to this location now that I think about it.

He lead us into a little house that could easily double as a hut if need be. It had no doors or windows, just fabric covering the various openings. There was actually fabric covering almost all the walls and surfaces except the floor which was some form of a tile, cooling down the house. It was rather cozy and clean, homey and welcoming. There was a man sitting on the floor surrounded by pillows and blankets. How he wasn’t boiling I didn’t know but he seemed content where he was. His hair was long, in some form of a dread lock, but different, with some loose robes on that covered everything but his hands, which were wrinkled but strong looking. What really caught my eye was his eyes. They were a reddish brown, almost like they were glowing. I could tell immediately that he was blind and yet not at the same time. He had the clearest view into the magical world than anyone I heard of, and I wondered if he was born that way, or if he lost his sight and used magic to give him some form of sight, or if he sacrificed his sight for a better look at the magical realm. All are possible scenarios, but the last scares me the most. If he purposely gave up his sight for the view of the magic realm, than I can’t trust for him to be stable enough to do the right thing and pull back the magic he prides himself on.

“Ahhh…the necromancer.” He was looking right at me which was disturbing and curious. I wonder what he was seeing. Could he see the various connections to the boys, the restriction I put on myself? I must look like a convoluted mess. “Tonkah has informed me that you have multiple agendas. Before we get to the second which I have a feeling has to do with the state of your arura,” I freaking knew it. My arura must look crazy. “We should focus on the most pertinent problem should we not?”

“I have come very far to ask for help with my mission. I know what was done but not how to safely undo it. This goes both for my mission and the other.” I said, sitting in the seat opposite him that was, literally, put before me. I was now eye level with him, which should have been comforting, I mean I’m not looking down to gain a kink in my neck, but it so wasn’t. I felt like I was drowning in his eyes. The longer I looked the brighter they seemed until it looked like he was nothing but glowing eyes.

I jumped a little when Edward, trying to help, kicked me right on my tail bone, which fucking hurt, but it snapped me out of the fixation. It’s been so long that I got vamped that I forgot the rules. He might be a human, but he is stronger than any vamp I’ve come in contact with, and with the way his eyes worked, I wonder if he has some other vampiristic qualities like I do.

“Interesting…” I had a feeling he wasn’t talking about my dilemma but my reaction to him. “I will need more information as to how that other occurred but for now…” He put his hands in the middle of the blankets and cupped them loosely as if he was collecting rainwater. He mumbled under his breath for a little as he slowly lifted his hands until they were chest height, only to quickly separate his hands and drop them to his side. The air between us shimmered until there was what looked like a foot tall, half inch tear in reality. I could see a different world taking place on the other side, it looked like a large city from thousands of feet in the air. I could see cars moving and dots of people, the only thing that really proved that it was a different place was the color. The sky seemed to be a pastel burnt orange rather than the traditional blue. “This is one of the five portals that he has opened throughout our world.” I felt Edward crouch down behind me, looking over my shoulder to get a closer look. The priest must have sensed my next question, or it was asked previously because he said, “A portal does not have to be lager to function. It is magic, common physics does not apply. This small tear in the fabric of our reality is enough to suck in the universe and more.” He gave a sardonic grin, “I know movies and TV shows show that the portal has to be human sized to walk through but that is not true. Just as portals can grow and shrink so can people whether they like it or not. It’s why Lycanthrope and vampirism and so on is possible. The human body is not a static physical state but a malleable substance that be shaped into what you want. Why else would we be majorly made of water, the one thing that has a solid, gas, and liquid state.” 

Well, that he knew TV shows showed that I assumed he once had eyesight, so being born with it is out of the question. Then again some could have told him that. So, I guess it’s not off the table, just unlikely. “So, I could literally walk right into that portal to another reality.”

He gave a stiff nod. “Yes, you can enter as it is, but as you enter any portal, something must be given to the power as a sacrifice to keep it satisfied.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know that all magic requires a sacrifice. The bigger the magic the bigger the sacrifice.” He gestured to the portal. “Something this big would generally require a human sacrifice.”

“So, to enter these five portals we would have to kill five people?” I shook my head, “There has to be another way.”

He gave a genuine smile at that. “I am glad that you find that as repulsive as it is. There is another way.” He flicked his hand the portal disappeared. “And I believe that this brings us into the other reason you are here.”

“Huh?” Yeah, that’s me. Articulate I am not.

“Your arura has multiple lines of people connected to it. They all center around you like a flame during a winters storm. Your arura looks like a tree, you being the trunk, and the ones connected to you its branches reaching into the abyss.” My heart rate speed up, is it a coincidence that I was having those weird dreams about a tree and he had likened my aura to it? Well, I think that there is a third agenda that I had forgotten about now added to the list. I felt Edward’s awareness sharpen at the mention of a tree as well. He must have sensed the unease with us because he stopped what he was going to say and switched mid-syllable. “It-why does my analogy cause such a reaction in both of you?”

“Recently, very recently, we have been dream sharing. I don’t know how it starts with Ed, but I’m always in the middle of the dessert looking for something and I just _have_ to find it. Then it’s like I’m being lulled somewhere. I feel like the closer I get the better I am. After a short time I find this giant block of ice encasing a tree that looks burnt. I feel compelled to get to the trees so I touch the ice and it starts to melt. Then it feels like someone is touching me and I turn and see Ed, his hand is right on top of mine. When I look back at the block it’s twice as big with another tree in it, and this other on is just as dead looking but silver coated. When we look around you can see the little bit of ice melting is forming a river and the ground around us is starting to have lush vegetation all around us. And then we wake up.” I looked down at my hands. “The weirdest thing is that the more the ice melts the more we feel connected. After a while we feel like one being and as it happens, we know it’s a form of magic but it’s not repulsive, we actually welcome it.”

He seemed to lean forward a tad as if he was trying to get a better look at me. “Was this one dream? Or was it a succession of dreams that built up to that dream?”

“A succession…” I said in surprise. The fact that he picked that up…maybe he really can help us.

“And does the dream begin the same with you as well?”

Edward nodded.

“There is nothing tampering with your aura, or his, but I can see that there is a link between the two of you that was not made, but you were born with.” He slowly traced the air around me as if he was looking for something. “You have three other links such as that as well.” He said almost to himself. “I have never seen anything like this.”

“Seen anything like what? Is there something wrong with us? Is someone messing with us?”

“No.” He said deep in thought now studying Edward. Waited for him to expound upon his reply but no such luck.

“No what?”

“You are not being messed with and nothing is wrong with you.” Finally, he sat back, still contemplative. “From what I can tell, what is happening to you is self-inflicted.”

“That’s not possible. I would remember doing this, whatever **_this_** is, to myself.”

“No, you wouldn’t. The point of the spell the two of you and I assume the other three connected to the two of you, is to forget something. It’s an artificial memory loss spell made to deactivate after all five of you have reunited and a specific amount of time has passed. If both of those needs are met than you’ll see all of the five of you in the dream and the tree, which is a symbol of knowledge, will be free and what you forgot will once again be remembered.” He paused. “It is, one of the most well-done spells that I have ever seen.”

For the first time I shot Edward a look and he was looking right back. Apparently, we were involved in something with three other people, erased our memories for whatever reason and are now remembering once more… Actually. You know what? That, actually sounds like something we would do. We gave each other a small smile and shrugged, moving on.

“What do you mean the…five? Of us have a connections since birth?”

“There are two forms of connections that are long lasting. One that is made through the soul which is unavoidable and everlasting and one made during the lifetime but is destroyed in death and can only be honored in life.”

I closed my eyes, slowly turning my head to glance at Edward. “Soulmates.” I whispered. He just smirked at me. Fucking know it all. He had told me the same thing a time before years ago.

“Exactly.” The priest said drawing my attention back to him. “It something that cannot be broken. The many other connection that you have can be and if you travel through a portal it will be.”

“How are they going to be broken going through the…” Okay I felt like an idiot. “I can give a bond to the portal as a sacrifice which would allow us to go through.” I said nodding to myself. “Will it kill the ones I’m bonded to?”

He shook his head. “When you leave a realm for another it can be seen as a form of death, but since you’re not dying it won’t drain the energy of the connected, it’ll just break.”

It felt like a weight was lifted from my shoulders hearing that. I was still pissed at the boys, but to be free I didn’t have to kill them. I literally just had to do my job. That freaken rocked. Now to just convince Edward to leave them alone. I wouldn’t mind punching some of them in the face but otherwise, none of them deserved to die for being douches and/or oblivious.

“Do I have to sacrifice a bond every time I enter and leave a portal?”

“No, you must honor the magic going in only, but you will have to give something every time you open the portal even if it is the same portal. Although… you seem to have enough bonds to sacrifice.”

“How do I call the portal to open to me and how do I close it when we’re done?”

“Watch and feel as I do it.”

Again, I watched him return to the same position as before, but this time I open a portion of my shields to feel what he was doing. I felt his energy…I guess you could say he was conversing with the natural world. He was asking for it to open the gate way the other man had. I could feel him trace the fading magic of Crenshaw and, kind of…show…it… to the earth’s magic. I could feel the earth open the portal when he dropped his hands opened. Apparently, he was putting the sacrificial magic in his hand for the earth magic to see and when his palms separated, he was giving the sacrifice, completing the ritual and opening the portal. It was a similar idea to raising a zombie but different format, so to speak.

It was the same portal that he had opened previously, so that really was one of our stops.

“Do we have to be in the location the portal was initially opened to do this, or can I be in one spot and open all five in the same location.”

“You must go to the original location of the portals and summon them there, otherwise they cannot be summoned.”

I nodded as I focused magically on him again as he closed the portal. Since he hadn’t passed through the portal one sacrifice was enough. He just thanked the earth for assisting him and magically submitted to it. I can’t even begin to explain how that made sense but it’s what happened.

“Do you understand?”

“Yeah, it’s similar to raising a zombie. Ask for what you need, offer a sacrifice, and thank the magic when you’re done.”

He smiled “Exactly. Do you believe you can repeat it on your own?”

I knew what he meant, understanding and doing are two completely different things. “I can do it.”

He studied me for a second. “If Tonkah had not informed me that you had successfully shadowed walked on your first try across half the world in a moving vehicle without any ritual, I would highly doubt that claim. But as it stands, I truly believe that you can do as you say.” He turned a little and gestured to the drivers. “Tonkah and Shabul, take my guests to get refreshments.” He looked back at me and Edward. “I feel that they will have quite an adventure ahead of them.”

“One last question if you don’t mind.” Before the woman behind him could help him to his feet. He held up one hand stopping everyone in their tracks, giving me a nod to continue. “When you enter the portal and then return…how much time passes between the two worlds?” He looked confused so I tried again. “If we enter the portal and spend a week in the other reality, when we return will a week have passed here in this time as well?”

“Ah… time is a relative term. In one world a week might equate to an hour here, and in another world ten minutes might be 10 months here. I cannot tell you how this will be. You will have to find a way to mark the time spans by the amount of time it takes for each of your people to pass through the portal.” He shrugged and waved everyone back into motion. “To them it took a few seconds to follow you, and to you it took few hours. That is the only advice that I can give you on the subject.”

With that we were led out of the hut by the two drivers, clearly named Tonkah (our driver) and Shabul (the other driver). They brought us to a table placed under a few trees not far from the house. A woman came out with a platter full of various drinks, including bottled water, and fruits, some type of cooked meat, and delicious smelling bread. Once we were settled and eatting we were left to our lonesome.

“I think this job is the best we’ve ever had.”

I stared at him in disbelief. “How, in this universe, is this mission good?”

He didn’t answer, just smiled his ‘I know something you don’t know’ smile. Asshat.

After that we just quietly inhaled our food. I was just popping the last piece of cantaloupe into my mouth when I felt the were-animal again. Except this time, it was closer, and I was able to learn that it was a werelion, a powerful werelion. 

“Werelion…” I mumbled turning to the direction I felt it in. We were both and up walking in that direction before either of us could think too deeply about it. I usually wouldn’t feel so alarmed, but I hadn’t felt a pride here, which means we have one wandering werelion around which can easily be an assassin sent by the man we were chasing for the priest.

It took us less than a minute to get to the hut he was located. From the energy I was getting it seemed to be resting. Both Edward and I pulled a gun with a silencer. Our goal is to avoid attention, guns can only be inconspicuous with a silencer.

Like the other house it had fabric covering the door, which is totally annoying when you’re trying to stealthily enter a room. You have to be really careful not to get tangled in the sheet trying to enter, as well as not make a lot of noise. Rustling fabric is much louder than you would think, and very distinctive. Lucky for us, we are two very experienced assassins, although technically I’m not.

We entered silently, my gun aiming straight for the werelion that was lying on the ground. I felt movement to the side of me, but I trusted Edward to handle it. I altered the angle of my body a little to get a better look at him without getting any closer. “Fucking hell!”

“Hello Anita,” He said sitting up, those dark soulless eyes looking at me. “Edward.”

I kept my gun aimed at him. I still didn’t know what he was doing here but I had a good idea about that.

“What are the two of you doing here?” Edward asked. I might not be able to see him, but I could tell that Edward had him at gun point just by the lifeless quality of his voice.

“Well, at first we were hired to take out the priest guy, but when we found out the two of you were here talking to said guy and on some type of mission,” I hear rustling fabric as if he had shrugged. “We decided to hold off.” I knew that voice. What the fuck is going on. This could not be a coincidence!

“Why kill the old man for a trifle fee when I can be with you Anita. I did not wish to kill the old man and turn you from me anymore than you already are.” He shrugged. “Plus, if you’re here than you have a quarry that you are chasing. Which means we will be able to kill together once more.” His smile was more predatory than it usually was, then again, he is an actual predator now so, yeah…there’s that.

“Edward?” This was his show. It was up to him to decide whether or not we take the chance and let them tag along. A part of me wants to say not only no but fuck no. But the other part of me said they could come in handy. Of course, I know, that Edward knows, how I feel about them, which is why I didn’t even add my two cents to the situation.

“You can’t cause any problems for us. If you’re in, you’re in for the long haul. I need Anita to be completely functional for this mission to be a success so there will be no bothering her. Understood?”

“Yes.”

“You got it boss.”

“Anita.” Which I took as Edward’s way of telling me to stand down. I put my gun down and put my back to the wall near the hut entrance. Edward had done the same on the other side of the doorway, sparing me a quick glance before turning back to our two new teammates, or should I say old teammates.

He gave a small nod in my direction. “Anita will fill you in on what’s going on. I’m going to contact the others. We head out in ten.” With that he pulled out his phone and went right outside the hut as he started speaking on the phone. I quickly filled them in on the government’s request, my recruitment, the magic found when he checks his portals and the spikes on the computer. Not to mention the second guy we were now following and his questionable status to the original. What the old man said and so on. The only things I left out was my personal life and what I had to sacrifice to open the portal. All they need to know is that it’s magic, not the mechanics of it, at least not yet anyway.

Just as I finished telling them about our next stop being Russia, Edward told us that our drivers were here and that the guys were all heading to the depot. Bernardo and Olaf gathered their equipment and followed us back to the cars. Olaf, of course, walked as close to me as he could without pissing off Edward or me and he even insisted that he be allowed in the same car as me. This left Bernardo to squeeze into the back/trunk space as all the cars were full. To give me and Olaf some distance Edward insisted that I take the front seat, leaving Olaf looking at the back of my head, but not touching me. It wasn’t perfect but it was enough. I could tell that the other guys wanted to ask about the two new additions to our group but knew that it would have to wait until we were on the plane and away from prying ears.

As usual the return trip seemed shorter than leaving. I never understood why that is, but it gave me enough time to try following the original man. About twenty minutes in I felt someone checking the portal. I had set up a small magical warning system for when either of them checked the portal. When it goes off it sends shiver down my spine. Hard for me, and anyone else in the car to miss. Not having time to explain I quickly found him at the portal. This time it was just the original. I waited in the shadows as I had before and when he began to leave, I followed at a safe distance, but once we left Africa it was like I hit a wall. Damn…this guy was good. I studied the magic he had used to block prying eyes and went back to my body. Once again, my eyes snapped opened and I was lying on the ground. Everyone was watching me, all looking much more interested in what I potentially learned than annoyed that we once again had to stop in a hostile territory. I shared a quick look with Edward that I would explain later and a small shake of the head to the others to indicate that now was not the time. Shabul watched curious, but seemed to be teetering on being bored. I don’t think he was involved in this and was just a driver for the most part. I studied him for a moment, a dangerous driver but a driver none the less. Tonkah on the other hand stared at me as if he was trying to read me. He probably was. He was reading the small amount of magic that I had used, I knew that he couldn’t see the rest but that he knew that more was there.

“You hide you’re magics well.” He continued to study me. “I do not know how strong you are and if I did not witness the experience twice, I would think you relatively weak, but no weak person could do what you did.” I said nothing and did nothing. He gave a small sardonic smirk of understanding that my secrets were my own. With that he turned back to the car, signaling to everyone that it was time to leave. Everyone left for their respective vehicles. Edward came over to help me up even though I didn’t need it. I knew that it was for Olaf’s benefit, but the others gave us a look of suspicion before finally getting in the cars. Bernardo just gave a knowing look and squeezed into the trunk space once more.

We finally got to the drop point without any further interruptions. We all got out and grabbed our bags. Apparently, we got to keep them.

“Before you go…” We all turned to face Tonkah holding out a piece of paper for me. “He would like for you to have a way to contact him. He says that it will be necessary when you need it.” I took the paper from him and watched the two men reenter their vehicles and drive off.

We made our way through the forest, making me glad that I had on civilian clothing rather than the hot and constricting jean like materials I had initially come here in. Many people mistake noon as the hottest part of the day but that is not true. The hottest part of the day is generally around three o’clock in the afternoon and of course this is when we decide to head back through the humid jungle. I know the faster we move the better, but damn it’s hot.

With the exception of Olaf beside me and Bernardo taking our six with Slick, everyone was in the same exact position as before, and as before there was no problem getting to the plane. Ten minutes later, Reaver and his brother were at the controls preparing for takeoff.

“Should we take off during the day?” I asked Edward, still ignoring Olaf who had decided to sit right behind us with Bernardo.

“Usually no, but we have to get to Russia quickly before we lose the lead that we have on this guy.” He looked at me. “Don’t worry, the brothers chose this location because it’s a blind spot in the radar so someone would have to see us, and this is hostile natural country, so that’s unlikely. Plus it's twilight, with the sun where it is it make visibility bad for everyone. It's actually safer to take off now then later. We’ve taken every precaution Anita, relax.”

I snorted. Me relaxing on a plane. That’ll be one cold day in hell. The only reason I had any sleep was because I literally scared myself into passing out. The moment the plane began to taxi I gripped the arm rests to death and narrowed my focus to one spot on the wall.

I heard Olaf lean forward and sniff the air around my head. “Your fear smells sweet. Like a fine dessert. Why are you so afraid of flying?”

Ignoring the first halve of that. “I just am, it’s a phobia there is no explanation.”

“Would it calm you if I flew the plane?” He asked with a purr.

“What is it with assassins having pilot’s licenses?” I muttered. I could feel the amusement of my comment radiating off of Edward. Damn Butt Licker. “It’s the plane, not the pilot.” I said hoping that he would back off.

“What is it about the plane that frightens you?”

“Every-…” I gasped hanging on to the arms rests for dear life as we took off. Like a school girl in a bad horror movie, for every slight shake of the plane I whimpered a little. I. Hate. Flying.

I felt something tugging at my hands again. I turned to find Edward prying my hands off the arms rest. I know he did it before because I was hyper-ventilating but I wasn’t this time…I think. Finally, when I was loose he once again brought me into his arms. He turns my body until he was…I guess you could say cuddling me. There was some shifting and just as I was about to ask what the hell he was doing, never picking my head up though (Edward made me feel too safe-don’t judge me), I felt a small pinch on my thigh. Well that’s new, there wasn’t a syringe in my leg before…was there?

This time when it went black, I didn’t dream of the desert. Instead I was seeing a memory of a time when I was six. There was this boy with brown hair and eyes the same age as me. We were playing tic-tac-toe as we lie on the floor waiting for our parents. It had been his move for a while now, but he wasn’t doing anything. He just kept staring at me and it was freaking me out.

“Look are you going to go or not?”

He was quiet for a moment before moving closer to me. “Do you do stuff that’s weird too?” He whispered.

“What?”

He grimaced at me, looked to make sure the door was still closed and inched closer. “I heard your parents talking about you seeing a ghost and bringing your dead dog back to life. Was it true?”

I frowned, I wasn’t sure that I wanted him to know about that, but it was too late to stop that I suppose. ”Yeah, I did. Why?”

“I can do stuff too.”

That took me aback. I hadn’t known that. “Like what?”

“I don’t know how to describe it, but I can show you. Take my hand…”

I reached out and touched him and the minute my fingers brushed his I knew.

Like before I woke slowly, but this time it was faster and I knew exactly what was going on. Edward had knocked me out, the butt face, and put me in the room in the back. “Holy shit!” I whispered. I got up from the bed and ran, or stumbled if you’d prefer, into the little meeting area, where the guys, except for the pilot, were convening. The moment I opened the door all eyes were on me, but that was fine. They all needed to know what I was going to say anyway. “Edward…” I took a quick breath, calming to mental freak out. “I remember Crenshaw.” Everyone sat up, all ears. Grimm even hung up on the person he was talking to on the other line. I guess my news was more important. Edward didn’t say a thing, his gazed just sharpened on me as he waited. “His name is, or was I guess, Kai. Jaxon Kai. His hair is different and he looks way different because he’s older, so I couldn’t place him before, but I remember now.” The minute I said his name Reaver was on the computer typing away. Probably looking for more information on him. “Our parents knew each other and we were the same age so they would make play dates so they could talk business. I hated it. Anyway we weren’t very close until he found out I had magic. Apparently, his family was really against the mystical arts and made him hide his…talents. When he found out about my raising the dead and my family’s reaction to it, well…he became really…attached. Pretty quickly his parents realized that their son was too close to the other freaky kid, so they stopped putting us together. We were like seven or something when that happened. It’s not even him that I recognized, it’s the magic.”

The moment I ended Reaver began. “Jaxon Kai, 31 years old, or would have been since he was technically pronounced dead 10 years ago after entering the army. When he enlisted he was engaged to a Ronnie Simms.”

Wait what?

“Private detective Ronnie Simms? Lives in St. Louis? Went to St. Louis University?” I asked. Edward was now standing. It looked like he wanted to pace but had nowhere to do it.

There was a pause and some typing. “That’s her.” He said eyes coming to me.

Okay…this guy was disturbingly close to me and the people around me. “What else did you find?”

“When he turned 13 he was accepted into the Russian Mafia in New York after running away from home. He never moved up the ranks, but he did switch locations while working for them. He was in Texas when he was 14, back to Maine within the same year. Then to Germany at 15, Russia at 16, back to the U.S. in Utah at 17 and finally ending his career in St. Louis a few months before he turned 18. He entered St. Louis University for preternatural biology. Only to enlist into the army on August 15th with his bachelor’s at the age of 20.” Is it too much of a coincidence that he was in all the same places I had been around the same exact time that I was? Every time?

Edward stared at me. “He’s following you Anita.”

I rolled my eyes, “I’m getting that.”

“Are you?” I bit back a scathing remark. Finding out I had a stalker put me off balance and my defense mechanism of being an ass is in full gear, or trying to be. “Apparently the majority of his life was planned around you. Which leads me to believe that this…thing he’s doing, has something to do with you.” He sighed. “Of everyone here I’m not sure if you’re the most protected or the most in danger.”

I deflated. I wasn’t sure either. Before, this mission was for the good of everyone, but now…now it’s personal. And that’s frightening.


	11. Judas, I mean Judith

Chapter 11

Reaver continued to search for more information about Kai. He wasn’t able to add much else, after his supposed death he disappeared from the world. So instead I decided now was a good time to try my sources of information. My father and Judith, Jaxon’s parents, and Ronnie; you know the people directly related to the situation. I never thought my family and friends would be a source of information for things like this, but there you go.

Imp was staring at me as I looked for the phone numbers. I really didn’t want to hear anything right now, but I don’t think that was going to stop him.

“Were you able to track the original magic user?” Everyone froze again, having forgotten that I had attempted it earlier. Well, I had forgotten it as well, so there was nothing that I could say.

“No… He was able to block me somehow. It’s something I’d never felt before.” I looked at Edward. “I need to go over more ritual magic and ask the vodun priest for his thoughts. That being said I was able to follow him for some time till I hit the boarder of Africa. The direction he led me in seemed to be North West, not North East towards Crenshaw, or Kai. Also, and this might sound repetitive, but something about the magic was familiar. Less so than Kai’s but identifiable, as if I have come in contact with, if not him, than something of his previously. Kai was not checking the portal this time, just the original, we really need a name for this guy. Saying the original makes me think of a vampire and vampire he is not.” I shrugged. “I’ll just have to try again when I get a chance. In the meantime…” I pulled my families number up on my phone and shook it to emphasis my point. “I have a few people to call.”

Always great at taking a hint, Edward gave me a satellite phone to use, saying it was untraceable. I wouldn’t even be able to begin to explain how you make a cell phone safe but apparently, it’s possible. I decided to start with my father since our relationship isn’t in the dumps at the moment. As the phone rang, I watched the boys get back to their tasks. Olaf and Bernardo didn’t have set jobs, so they were just pitching in where they could, such as flying the plane to give the brothers a break (Olaf), research on a computer (Bernardo) and so on.

“Hello?” His voice was raspy as if he had been sleeping.

“Hey dad.” I said, wondering what time it was in St. Louis. We’ve been skipping time zones so fast I have no idea if we’re a day ahead, behind, or what.

“…Anita?”

“Yup…”

He was quiet for a moment. “What’s wrong?” He sounded worried and completely alert. I couldn’t blame him, if my kid called at god knows what hours with the type of job that I have I’d be worried too.

“Nothing’s wrong I just have some questions I need answered. If I had known the time, I might have waited a few hours.” I turned from the interested faces of the men and went into the room for some privacy.

“So you’re okay?.”

“Yeah daddy I’m fine…”

I heard him sigh as he let his anxiety go. He was worried for me and he had every right to be. “What do you need to know?”

“I need information about Kai and his family.”

“Who?”

“Kai, Jaxon Kai. You know the kid I would play with when we were seven. You and his parents would talk business and stuff and you’d put us into a room to play…remember?”

He was quiet for a moment. “Anita their son is dead. Has been for the past ten years. What could you possibly need to know about him?”

Damn. I forgot he was supposed to be dead. “That’s not quite true, he’s very much among the living.” I sighed. I was going to have to give him some background information. Luckily my dad wasn’t a big on talking to others about sensitive information. He was an army man and he knows how to keep things on the down low. “Look… a few days ago I and group of people were hired by the government to find Kai. He’s doing things that has to be stopped that I cannot discuss, but I can say that he is very…very alive.”

There was nothing for a time, but I could feel the wheels turning in his head. He wanted more information, but he had to know that he wasn’t getting it. “What do you need to know?” Military through and through.

“Everything you know about him and his family.”

“Right… Before we continue I’m going to make one thing clear. You will solve this confrontation between you and Judith. I will not stand in the middle. If there is something that I should know then tell me, otherwise let it go. Understood?” That wasn’t a question…it was an order.

I closed my eyes and nodded, although he couldn’t see it. I knew he was right and the longer I waited the worse it would be. For a while I’ve wanted to solve this but every time I went to handle it something went wrong around me. I don’t know, it always felt wrong to focus on it. Maybe that has something to do with these memories that I’ve locked away. “I know dad, and I will.”

“Okay than…” His voice gentled. “The Kai’s were a very secretive sort. As you know they had a thing against the mystical arts. What you don’t know is that both parents were doctors for a ‘private’ firm. Their goal was to contain the magic people are born with and make something that will suppress it at will. It would allow someone to have complete control of someone’s natural born talents. They said it was to stop the random acts of violence caused by the preternatural world, but I know a government operation when I see one.”

“Why would you meet with them than? You have nothing to do with that, you’re a veterinarian.”

He sighed, “There are some animals in the world that hold a small level of magic. The Kai’s would come to me to get a hold of such animals and they would also ask me to inject the small devices that they made into the animal. They wanted a professional to do it right so they could accurately judge the reactions that the devices had. It wasn’t killing or seriously hurting the animals, so I was fine with helping.”

“Did any of it work?”

“In a way. The animals no longer were able to use their innate abilities but not because they suppressed the magic in itself. The mechanisms that they were using was causing the animals to forget that they even had it.”

“So, it caused amnesia? How was that beneficial?”

“Well, at first it wasn’t. They still had no control over the powers, but they did gain control over the person as a whole. I mean if you can pick and choose which memories that someone can remember, you can almost make the person do what you want. The problem is that they still have the option of discovering their talent at a later time. I guess they figured it out because after another few months of the same testing they never came back. One day they were there and the next there was no sign of them.”

“If that’s the case then how did you know the son died, supposedly?”

“A few years before he died, I mean… disappeared… I guess… he had come to the house. He said he was looking into what his parents had been working on. I couldn’t tell him anything about it at the time since he didn’t have the clearance. All I could say was that they were working for the government. I didn’t even know which agency they were under.”

“How long did he stay around?”

“For a while actually… He took up an apartment a couple of blocks from us so he had access to the property, which, by the way, is still in their name.”

“Did he find anything in the house? And if they owned it why didn’t he just stay in his old home?”

He sighed, pausing for a moment. “I don’t know if he found anything in the house, but… Anita you were young when they lived next to us, so you missed a lot of the way his family treated him. Being in that house is the last thing that he would want to do, and I don’t blame him. I’m actually surprised that he hasn’t burned it down yet.”

“What did they do to him?”

“When he came back, he told me that they would test their devices on him privately. If I had known I would have not worked with them, but they kept it well hidden at the time. On animals and used for small intervals of time it’s relatively harmless, but on a human, it can cause pain. Used for extended periods of time it can cause… well… before they came to me, they tried it on animals and wasn’t very vigilant about the timing of device removal. All 200 of the rats died in slow agonizing ways. To avoid being shut down for animal cruelty they went looking for a vet that would be reliable and, well you know the rest.”

It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what he was saying. They experimented on the kid, bringing him to the point of death multiple times and… and what set play dates for us? That’s all kinds of fucked up. “Does Judith know anything about all of this?”

“No, she had nothing to do with them for the most part. I’ve never seen them share anything but pleasantries.” I doubt that. Actually, now that I think about it, I know that isn’t true.

We were quiet and I digested that for a moment. “Thanks dad.”

“Anita… This is being addressed now. Are you going to forgive or do you need to address this?”

“I can’t forgive this, so…” I closed my eyes and slammed my forehead against the wall. I can honestly say that I would almost rather die, but it’s time to face the music. “Yeah put her on.”

He sighed, he didn’t know what had happened between me and Judith, just that years ago she visited me at college and I’ve never spoken to her since. I know that he’s curious and to tell the truth he has the right to know what went down, but I’ve never had the chance to sit down with him about it and I hate the idea of saying it over the phone…I may not have a choice. “Hold on…”

I listened to him quickly walk to get Judith, probably hoping that I don’t change my mind and hang up. It was a thought, but I needed to talk to Judith anyway and there is no time like the present. I quickly moved from the door as someone opened it. Olaf’s bald head appeared in the created space. He looked around the room until he spotted me behind the door. I looked at him in question as he did a full body check before leaving the room and shutting the door once more. It took me a moment but as I felt the small throb on my forehead, I realized he came to make sure I was okay. When you’re in a plane full of assassins that go bump in the night making a loud unplanned bump would cause some unease and caution to be had. I’ll try to be quieter.

After a few moments and some mumbling a familiar voice answered hesitantly. “Hello?”

“Judith…”

I heard her swallow, she knew what I knew, and she wanted it to stay secret. She knew if I said anything, her perfect, safe, and spectacular life would be over. Karma’s a bitch, but that’s not what I’m here for. “How…how are you?”

“Cut the shit, we’ll get to ‘that’ in a minute as I promised dad, but I need information on the Kai family right now.”

I can feel her reluctance. She never wanted to discuss the events of that week, but it was way past due and I needed to say everything outload. Her past is her past and everyone involved needs to know. “Why now? Can’t you just-”

“No, now what do you know about the Kai’s.” I knew she was going to suggest that I forgive and forget, but forgiving is not what I’m known for, neither is forgetting. I am very well known for being vindictive though.

“Anita please-”

“No. For every life you’ve ruined, every tear you’ve caused and every person lost because of your choices will be accounted for. I will not hold your secrets and lies Judith. I have no control over how they will respond, that’s God’s purgative. All I can do is speak the truth as I know it, and free myself of this burden. I will face my own punishments but if them knowing is hell for you, than you lived a hellish life.”

I can feel her frustration with me through the phone. She had always asked me to ‘just let it go’, that it was a ‘mistake’. ‘It’s a new day Anita, thing have changed. It’s time to forgive and forget as God says.’ But there’s the problem. God never said to forget, in fact he’s always said the opposite, to remember the sins of our fathers and to learn from them. Every society in the bible that was destroyed by God, was done so because everyone forgot the lessons taught to their forefathers. No, I can’t forget, but I can forgive the person for their personal sin against me, and I have, in a way. I mean, I don’t want to kill her anymore, or ripe her face off with my bare hands. If that’s not forgiveness I don’t know what is. But just because you’ve been forgiven doesn’t mean you can no longer discuss what was done. I mean, isn’t it the things that are not discussed the things we forget? No, for as long as I remember, she remembers and suffers for it, and maybe she’ll think twice before doing something like it again. I mean, if you’re never punished for what you do, why would you stop doing it?

“Why? Can’t…This is…” I stayed quiet as she continued to push for something to say. Anything to get me to keep her secrets for her. There was nothing she could say and she knew it. After a couple more minutes of confused speech and stagnated silenced she finally moved on to something she could control. “Why should I tell you anything?”

“Oh, are you saying you have nothing to lose?” I chuckled, she really never dealt with me before, not when it came to my vindictive nature. “Losing your husband and son is just the beginning Judith. I can stop there or I can use every government contact I have to ruin everything you touch, until your homeless in the street and selling yourself just to get a meal.”

She was quiet for a moment and I could feel the wheels turning in her head and I knew I just hit Jackpot. She took a breath as if to speak but I quickly cut her off, “Before you begin your string of lies I want you to remember that I haven’t told dad everything, although he does know some, mainly because I don’t remember it or haven’t witnessed it. But I have kept you on a 24-hour surveillance from the moment I met you and it’s still going strong. If you lie, split hairs, skimp over something, or omit anything concerning Jaxon Kai AND his family, I will have my team make a compilation of everything you ever did into a CD and/or email and have it personally delivered to dad. They will also ensure that he watches **all** of it.” I let the silence fall as she took that in. She knew I wasn’t lying.

“You would ruin your father’s life as well then.”

“I won’t hide your wrong doings from dad so he can live in blissful ignorance. I’ve always told him about your…adventures. He’s never had any proof other than my word and so he gave you the benefit of the doubt, but I’m sure the surveillance would show the whole story. I do not lie to my father. Never have, never will. I’m just the messenger, if his life is ruined by knowing all of **your** actions and all of **your** problems then it seems to me that **you’re** the one ruining his life.”

She was silent as she struggle to find a way around this and not tell me anything, but there wasn’t one. If she wants me limit the damage and not rampage through her entire life, then she has to tell the truth now. Something she has never done before, at least not around me.

“…Okay, hold on a moment.” There was some shifting and mumbling before I heard a door close. She must’ve sent my father off to do something so he wouldn’t hear. I quickly put the on the speaker phone and went back into the main cabin. The boys were quietly working but stopped when I came into the room. “Jaxon Kai…” she said. The phone was loud enough that everyone could hear perfectly; good. “If you want to know about him, I have to tell you about his parents.” Everyone not flying the plane moved closer, no one wanted to miss this. “Your dad probably told you about them working with the government and their experiments to control people’s innate powers. How that initially failed, instead causing selective amnesia, and they left never to be seen again. And it’s true they were, but that was only the beginning, or the end depending on how you look at it. When they were able to isolate what makes a person a witch or fey, then it gives them the key to removing that factor, or adding it. Your father thought they were trying to weaponize people born with powers to their will, and that is the second objective, what they really wanted was the ability to make a magical weapon, an object, with the factors that make people magical but with them having full control over it. For instance; a knife having the ability to call forth old wounds like some of the Fey. The idea is great but once an object is infused with one form of magic it can’t be infused with another, which means it can call the old wounds to be fresh again but you can’t put security on it so someone else wouldn’t use it to their advantage. If they had been able to layer spells on a particular object than the test probably would have stopped there but they couldn’t. Being able to tap into the source of magic would give them an unlimited variation of things that you could do. You could make the weapon selective of the targets, bigger than it was initially, smaller, make any object a spying source, so on and so forth. The problem is, once that magic is infused into an object it can’t be removed, it will always have that power. That’s a problem if you don’t want to leave a trace, and it caused a hitch in their plans. Objects are mindless and can be manipulated at the governments will, but they leave residual magic and can’t be reprogrammed. They have to be destroyed. People on the other hand leave no residual but have free will that can’t completely be controlled.”

“Were the Kai’s able to solve the problem?”

“Yes. You see when a fetus is in the womb nothing is concrete. If you could catch a pregnant woman before she gives birth, the point where all modifications of the fetus is permanent, than you can make what you want. It’s like a human build-a-bear workshop. They found, by testing it on their own child, that before the child is born it’s like an object, malleable. But once born it can be the perfect machine.”

“But they tested all of that after Kai was 7 years old.”

“No Anita, that was the ending of their experimentation. That was the last of the follow ups. They were trying to ensure that there was no other way. That nothing could be altered after life, only externally tweaked, hence the amnesia.”

“So…Jaxon was born manipulated.”

“Yes, his blood line had no natural inclination toward magic, but they infused it into him as a child along with some commands he must follow. I don’t know what they are, I just know that he has them. It was supposed to be a safety feature in case the child came out crazy or screwed up, they had a way to terminate it.” She sighed. “But even so Jaxon was a failure.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, he had powers, but no control. Every time he tried to control the magic inside of him his body rebelled, almost as if it knows that the magic is foreign agent and that shouldn’t be there. They proved that you can put magic in any blood line, but they also proved that it’s useless if the bloodline isn’t inclined toward magic to start with.”

“Why didn’t they destroy him if he was a dud?”

“Oh, they tried. When they left without a word, they were taking him to be…decommissioned if you will. Somehow, he escaped, and they haven’t been able to find him since. I mean not until he came back a few years ago. He was searching for a way to remove the command that was going to kill him. I don’t know if he ever found it or not. I just know he was pronounced dead a few years ago.”

I was quiet for a moment processing the information. A lot of this was starting to make since. You have a man mad at humans trying to kill everyone for what they did to him using the same technique they used on him and a government trying to cover up a mistake before the situation goes anymore pair shaped than it already was. Although…somehow, I have a feeling that I’m more involved in this dilemma than I know.

“Why did they move next to dad? I mean they showed up literally the day after my mom died and offered to babysit me with their son.” I could feel the gazes of the men. They came up with the same conclusion that I did. “Why am I involved in this? How am I involved in this?” I didn’t tell her about Kai following me, and recently being told that the government not only pulled my file but are actively watching me. This story is crazy enough without that.

“… Because, you were a manipulated baby.”


	12. Operations

Chapter 12

“What?”

“Your mother had no idea about the project, but no long after having you she stopped bringing you to the doctors. Your father said she was paranoid that the doctors were doing things to you, giving you stuff you didn’t need and not telling her about it. She refused babysitters, everyone. She was convinced that someone was after you…and she was right. When you were six the government got tired of not being able to get to their experiment…” She sighed, her voice resigned. “They had her killed and moved the Kai’s next door.”

I felt all eyes on me, but I was focused on the phone. I could not focus on that right now. I couldn’t. I needed the other information more but another question started to raise in my mind. “You came not long after…” I didn’t need to finish the question she knew what I was getting at.

She said nothing for quite some time. “You and a few other people were involved in the program.” Well if that misdirection didn’t answer my question then I can’t take a hint. She was a plant to keep an eye on me as well. If the Kais failed to get to me, it was her job to stay close. I felt the exchange of glances as the guys understood as well. “They found that there are people in the world that are naturally connected to other people from birth. The government spends a lot of resources into finding the different groups. They found that within the group there is always only one naturally inclined magic user. The amount of people connected to each other can vary. I don’t know the limits, how they work, or how it would affect the group so please don’t ask me. Each time they give a non-magic user powers, the natural will keep the others in check, giving them control over their magic. There’s not as many magic users in the world as you would think. So, they make the groups, one born with the powers, just manipulated, and the others infused with magic and connected to the natural. Of your group, you were the natural. Since the natural had control over the magic, they made the most strategic mind, definitely not the natural, the group leader to delegate the power within the groups.”

I looked at Edward as things began to click into place. The dreams, the self-inflicted memory loss, and the three other unknown connections to people that we have on us. Hell, even my intrinsic trust in Edward’s leadership. I mean I have no doubt in my mind that Edward is the group leader. Freaking guy already knowing we’re soulmates.

Edward gave the same look back, we were government property, and have amnesia for some reason. A reason that will be clear soon once our memory block was lifted. The priest said it would happen soon, that the magic was on a timer and was released for a reason. I’m starting to get impatient with my memories.

“Why is the most strategic mind not the natural?”

“Well…I feel like you should find that out on your own.”

“Judith…”

“I’m not dodging you, but… this is not my story to tell. This is just something you need to remember about yourself.” I thought about forcing it, but she had been so good so far and I wasn’t going to push her so she’ll clam up and stop talking.

“How close of an eye were you supposed to keep on me?”

She was quiet for a time, enough time that I was starting to guess the answer. “This information is need to know only. I was not in that group, but the father was. My job was to keep an eye on him, not you. He had been making some waves and they wanted to keep him in line. We…had an affair and I saw the information in his office. I saw your name, got curious and took some pictures. I figured I should have some form of insurance incase things go wrong. I didn’t realize what it was until they were gone.”

“Upload and send those picture to me in an email address I’m going to give you and then destroy it, all of it.”

“Okay…” There was some rustling around the room as she looked through draws for a pen and paper to write the email down.

I put the phone on mute so she couldn’t hear me, but I could still hear her. “Jackson get me a secure email I can use.” I turned to Edward, “Well, now we know some of what the dreams are leading too.”

He nodded, “Ask if she knows who the other three are.”

“Wait, three? Are you telling me that you’re manipulated too? That you two are part of the same group? And how do you know there are three others in your group?” Bernardo asked. The others froze as this new information sank in. They guessed I was involved but not Edward, I mean he’s a complete null…when he doesn’t have his memories and I lock him out of his powers anyway.

I ignored the shocked confused looks and looked at Jackson, “Email.”

It snapped him out of it, and he did some more typing before turning the computer around on some weird screen. I wouldn’t have known what to tell her if he hadn’t conveniently highlighted the email address for me.

“Okay I’m ready…”Judith said a little out of breath. I unmuted the phone and gave her the address. She repeated it back to me just to be sure she copied it correctly.

“Is there anything else you would like to add?”

She was quiet for a moment, “Before Jaxon died he was looking for you. Somehow, he knew you were a part of the program. I think he thought that if he could find you, you could help him. I don’t know if he ever did or not, but I do know he was looking for you. He seemed…resigned? Yeah… he seemed resigned. About what, I don’t know.”

Well that’s weird. “What about his parents? Do you have any contact information for them?”

“They’re dead. Right before Jaxon came back their house caught on fire in michigan and they died. People believe the son did it, but they had no proof.”

“Last question, do you know who the other four of my group are?”

“Yes, but I don’t think that their going by their name in the file.”

My face was a mask of confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Well… Anita Blake isn’t your birth name. It’s the alias you were given. Your file only list the real names of the other four, so I doubt you’ll find them by that. Although…”

She was quiet for so long that I thought she hung up until I heard some paper shuffling. What is she looking for?

“Although what?”

“Ah ha! You’ll see it in a minute but it says that the directors of the project like to ensure that the five stay together. It’s pretty likely that you already know the other four. It’s a high probability that your already friends with most if not all of them. Apparently you guys have an unnatural attraction to each other, a lot of them become…well acquainted if you know what I mean.” I could just feel the thoughts of the men as they finally ‘understand’ the chemistry between me and Edward. “It says that the other four are drawn to the natural of the group the strongest. So it’ll be the people around you more likely than not.” Why the hell do I have to have to attract so many people? It would be a hell of a lot easier if I wasn’t a damn magnet.

“Thank you Judith.”

“So…you’ll leave me alone? We’re good right?” Her voice was quiet and hopeful.

I replied completely relaxed; “Nope.”

“I told you everything Anita, I promise…” Her voice was a whimper, she had nothing else to add.

“I know.” And I hung up. We’ll finish this in person.

“That was cold. I don’t know what she did but…damn.” Bernardo said turning toward the little airplane kitchen area.

I could see from the others faces that they agreed with him, but no one else said a word.

“Tell me when the email arrives.” Jackson gave me a nod in affirmation, focusing on his work.

The rest began to busy themselves acting like their working, but I knew they were just bursting with questions and in truth they deserved to know, this was their life in the mix too. Instead of revving myself up to be defensive, I sat back next to Edward and prepared for the ensuing onslaught. It took longer than I had initially thought, but we are dealing with a plane full of assassins. Them and their patience.

I thought about calling Judith back, it was taking some time to get that email, but then I remembered who I was dealing with. Two people in a house with no real technical knowledge, probably just now learning how to scan and save information from their insanely old computer and slightly younger but still old printer, get the scans to attach to an email and then send it to me. So…yeah. I say give them three, maybe four hours to figure it out. I was able to get through another four pages of my magic recollections before Imp started to get antsy and begin to give into his curiosity. Just to annoy him, I picked up the phone and dialed Ronnie. I thought about leaving the room, but that would open Edward up for questions and I wanted them to sweat.

“Mmmm…hello?”

I smiled, “I wake you?”

There was a stillness on the other end of the phone, “…Anita?”

“Hey Ronnie.”

“Holy shit! I haven’t heard from you since… well since our, ummm…” She was at a loss for words, because she knew we parted on bad terms. She had insulted me and Nathanial had set her straight. Something that he had never done and hasn’t done since. It was a side of Nathaniel that I had never seen before. It was something that I encouraged from him, he needs to be able to tell the truth too.

“Hey, don’t worry about it okay. But I do have a problem that you can help me with.”

“What? Oh, okay… I mean…yeah! Yeah.” She took a deep breath. “So, uh, what do you need?”

“You had a fiancée named Jaxon Kai right?”

She took in a shocked gasp. “HOW THE HELL DO YOU KNOW THAT!?!?!?!”

I sighed, “There’s a situation that I was called into that involves a Jaxon Kai. After some digging we found that you were engaged to him. We need all the information we can get about him and his family.”

“Anita…” Her voice broke. I said nothing letting her gather her thoughts. “Jaxon is dead. His whole family is dead. There is nothing you could possibly need to know…” I can hear the tears and it was that brittle sound in her voice that made me decide to not inform her that Jaxon was alive and well.

“Listen…” I said gently, “I know this is hard for you. Just like I know that you know that I would never bring this to you if I had another choice. Now I can’t tell you what I’m working on since you don’t have government level security clearance, but I can tell you that whatever you know or remember might be useful.” I listened to her sniffling on the other side of the phone. “Please Ronnie. No one knew him better than you.” I don’t know if that was true or not, but I knew it would get her talking.

“He was…” She must’ve been crying hard because her voice was in that hiccup stage you hit when you are starting to have trouble breathing correctly.

“Calm down and breath with me okay?” I started to count off breaths in a slow calming pattern. After a while I began to hear the crying tinker off as she fought to follow my lead. “Now go drink a glass of water and then rinse your face off with cold water to cool yourself off.” Most people tend to forget but crying really is a face work out and it heats up… a lot. It’s why people can pass out from crying. Your brain overheats and then forces the body to take a chill pill so it could cool off. After a time, when I could hear her breathing normally again I decided to chance it. “Do you need more time?”

She took in a deep breath, “No, no. I’m…I’m okay now...” I think she was saying that more for herself than me. For a while she just breathed. “Jaxon and I went to same university. We shared a few of the same classes and we got to talking.” And for the next hour and a half she spoke non-stop about how they got together, what his favorite food was, and how he came to be in the military. It was at that point that I became interested, especially when she mentioned a certain recruiter’s name. I quickly put the phone on loud speaker for the others to hear.

“Wait a minute, run that by me again. Who recruited him?”

“A guy named Van Cleef, why?”

The tension in the plane skyrocketed. “How did they meet?”

“I…I don’t know. They already seemed to know each other before I even met him. He said that they go way back.”

“How far back?”

“Childhood, his anyway. He said that Van Cleef was the father he never had.”

We all shared a look. This was just getting worse and worse. This means that if Kai is reacting the way he is it’ll have something to do with Van Cleef. Which means this is a top secret government run operation we’re dealing with, but I don’t understand the end game. Why make these weapons of mass destruction? What the hell is going on? The closer we get to this thing the less we understand. Damn this is confusing and at this point, I‘m not sure if my memories are going make anything easier.

“Have you had a lot of contact with this Van Cleef?”

“I guess you could say that. I mean Kai had him over at least once a week and when he entered the army Kai went right under his command.”

We all stared at each other, taking in this new information and trying to think of what we could make of it. “Did you hear anything from their conversations that struck you as odd?”

She went quiet, “There was this one time, before he joined the army. They were talking in the kitchen. I didn’t even know he was there, it was like three in the morning. They must’ve thought I was sleeping. Anyway, I heard voices, but I could feel the difference in the atmosphere. So, instead of just walking in like I usually would I did a little sloughing. I don’t know about the rest of it but apparently an operation went wrong. Something called Operation Dream Sequence.”

“What went wrong with it?”

“I don’t know exactly. He said something about some guy named whisper infiltrating a place, but I guess he went rouge and derailed the operation. It was supposed to be over by a certain time, but whisper got in the way and it was never completed.”

“It?”

“Operation Dream Sequence. Van Cleef said that the Operation could be a success, but Kai had to find someone.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know, but I think it was why he entered the army. He was still looking for that person and I guess he got wind that they were in the military or something.”

Could he have been looking for Edward? Or was he still looking for me? Maybe he was searching for someone else entirely. Hell, maybe Ronnie heard it all wrong. “Is there anything else?”

“No, that’s the only time I caught them.”

I nodded even though she couldn’t see it. “Okay, thank you Ronnie.”

“No worries, and… I am sorry for what happened.”

“I know, we’re cool.”

I could hear the smile in her voice. “Thank you, Anita.” And then she hung up.

Imp was talking before I ended the call. “I don’t like where this is going.” Everyone gave a grunt of agreeance.

“Jackson…” Edward called.

“It just came in. I’m uploading it now.”

“Do you have a screen to play it on for everyone to see?” I asked.

He paused for a second, going through his mental inventory. “Yeah, I do.”

“Is anyone else going to bring up the fact that we are now involved in some secret government conspiracy, and that the people in charge of this mission, or at least a part of it, have amnesia and are directly involved in all of this? Oh, and that they’re apparently…soulmates? Is that what she was implying?” Bernardo asked sounding upset and confused all at once.

There were mumbled agreements from the other men. Edward and I shared a quick look of understanding that if we didn’t handle this, we might have a mutiny on our hands. It’s time to have the big reveal, I guess you would say. I mean, we don’t even know how this is going to go, not yet anyway.


	13. Just Letters

Chapter 13

“There’s a lot to this situation that we’re confused about as well.” I shrugged, “We do have amnesia after all. All we can do right now is take in the information that has been provided for us, and for me and Edward to try and remember more. I mean before all of this came to light, we had both began to unlock parts of our memory, although we didn’t know that was what was happening until now.”

“I don’t get it? Shouldn’t you just remember or not?” 

I shook my head. “It’s not that simple Olaf. Our memories are…trapped in…” I sighed as I racked my brain on how to explain it without sounding absolutely insane.

“We’re able to monitor the breakdown of the spell holding our memories in our dreams. Apparently if we touch while we sleep the faster the spell breaks down to reveal our memories. Which is why we don’t have our memories yet. We have to have the others around to unlock them faster, just like the priest said.” Edward said still doing whatever he was doing on the computer, not even giving a glance to the people on the plane.

“All spells do work better with proximity.” I said, as I searched for a specific spell. “I think we need to start categorizing our next actions into order of importance.” All eyes turned to me, even Edwards. “Edward and I need our memories. If nothing else it should increase the odds of the groups survival, but I’m thinking we might already know why Kai is doing what he’s doing and how to stop it, if it needs to be stopped.” I looked at Edward and he nodded in agreeance.

“Memories first, but in order to do that we’re going to need the other three of our merry band of misfits.”

I nodded, “Already thought of that. I have spell that’ll mask my search from unwanted attention, but I think I can follow their arura to them the same way I followed the magic to Kai. If not, at the very least I should be able to call them to me, but we’ll have to be at a specific location for that to work.”

“Call them to you? Like a vampire can call their human servant?” The fact that he jumped right to something completely relative to the situation we were in made me like Slick more. His question told me that he has a brain in his head, a good one.

“Exactly like that…” I turned to Jackson, “But before we get to that, I want to know all I can first. This might be fast or it might take a while depending on where they are and how this magic works.” I nodded towards the multiple screens they had wired together on the wall. “Show us what Judith had. That’ll be step one.”

“And step two?” Olaf asked, looking at me way too focused. Yup, he’s still a creeper, but I already knew that now didn’t I.

“I find a way to call the others to me.”

“And then?” Imp asked, almost sounding annoyed. With what? I have no idea.

“One step at a time.”

Jackson had finally finished connecting everything and was loading the information onto the screens. There were four screens in all each showing a different page of the information she sent. You could see in the tint and tilt of the page that they were unused to scanning information. Some of the documents came out completely inverted. It took a few minutes before Jackson was able to fix the blurry, upside down, crinkled looking, weird colored information, but fix he did. By the time he was done the papers looked like a professional had scanned them perfectly.

“Subjects Echo, Juliet, Mike, Romeo, and Sierra were considered a success in all sections of testing. The only squad to do so. With this it has been decided to implant the subjects into deep cover to enact Operation Deadman’s Float. This operation will contain a sub mission named Operation Dream Sequence. The entirety of these missions will not be provided in this report.” Slick started, reading from the top left screen, which just happened to be closest to him. “Subjects will be given new identities. Only the handlers of the subject shall know said identity. Each report on each subject shall be separated into various classified reports. This report is on Juliet, a.k.a. Anita Katherine Blake. The natural magic user of her squad.”

I’m starting to see where this is going, at least on the Kai stand point of things.

“Her location: SL-M. She will be known as an animator to mask the percentage of magic we were unable to conceal. As expected, being the natural, all magic cannot be locked. 1 % (one percent) of her magic has been left free due to the ‘dam’ effect.”

“Jesus…” Bernardo was staring at me. “You’re known as the most powerful necromancer in the world. You single handedly, for the most part, took control of all the preternatural community around the world with only ONE percent of your powers Anita…. ONE PERCENT!!!!! That’s fucking crazy!” He looked freaked out. Everyone in the room had a very similar look, well except for Edward he just looked thoughtful.

“What else does it say?” I asked breaking the awkward silence that had engulf the plane.

“Right…” Jackson turned back to the computer as Reaver called for Olaf to take over the flying. The rest of the information was things we already knew. There really weren’t many pages to the documents, only about ten pages in all. There were vague mentioning’s of the others in my squad but no real definite info on them. I couldn’t even tell which one was supposed to be Edward. This report was nothing, but the intricacies of my life laid out on paper. I was starting to lose all hope of learning anything new from all of this.

“When Juliet is awakened, she is to be quarantined in a physical and magical field. With her original memories in place the personality of her alias will break. The subject…”

“Break? What do they mean by break?” Imp asked cutting off Jackson.

“They probably mean like breaking character.” Grimm said clearly trying to get back to the information on the screen.

“No. this is a government report which means they are very specific on their word usage to avoid later confusion.” Imp looked at me as if he was trying to see what I was hiding. “I think that her awakening will literally break her.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Bernardo was looking between me, Edward, and Imp as if we were conspiring against him.

“I’m just saying….I’m starting to think that we know nothing real about her. I’m not even sure if that’s what she really looks like. From everything I heard, it sounds like they put her and the rest of their squad, if their reports are similar, into something to contain them. Like a suit of armor if you will.” Everyone was studying me and Edward now, trying to digest what Imp was trying to say. “It almost sounds like they put them into capsules, like…think of it like a chick in an egg just about ready to come out. That’s what it seems like. I really think that their outer shell will break, like a chick breaking its shell to get to the fresh air of the world.” He slowly shook his head, his eyes never leaving me and Edward. “I think they took the phrase ‘putting on a front’ to a whole new level.”

Well…Imp might be right about this. I mean they did constantly say the words: contain, put to sleep, awakening, enclosed, breaking out, cracking from within, and so on. Edward and I shared a look of understanding. “Operation Dream Sequence was never completed.” I said quietly, but the plane was so silent that I knew the guys heard me. “Whisper wasn’t a man, it’s the thing they used to instill our personalities into place.” I leaned back in my chair looking at the roof as I continued to inform the group of what me and Edward just realized. “This whole time the report was explaining Operation Dream Sequence. Our covers was the mission.” I took a calming breath, only to realize that I was completely calm. Weird. “That’s why we’ve been feeling different.” I smiled and looked at Edward. “When I said that I didn’t feel like myself anymore, I apparently meant that literally.” I raised an eyebrow. For some reason I was feeling a little smug. “Whisper is failing. I’m assuming that it was supposed to fail years ago and it never did. Someone misjudged the magic.” Looked back to the boys, seeing that I had their full attention. “I have a strong feeling that Kai’s parents were my original handlers, and when they died Jaxon took their place.” I nodded to myself. “I have a feeling that he’s doing all of this to wake us up so we can finish the original mission: Operation Deadman’s Float.”

It was quiet for a moment as everyone digested that tidbit of information.

“Finish the report.” Edwards order snapped everyone out of their inner dialogue and back to the task at hand.

“Juliet shall not be awakened without Romeo for any reason. If the entire squad cannot be awakened at once, Juliet MUST be awakened WITH Romeo. If this does not happen, the handler is to follow emergency procedure. Termination is NOT an option due to the magnitude of Juliet. Containment is also not an option. Again, Juliet is the natural of the group, although she has a genus level intelligence, she does not have a stable personality. With her superior abilities separating her from the others of her kind she is unmanageable without the strategist as a proxy. Juliet MUST be awakened WITH Romeo, or she is to not be awakened at all.”

And that was how the report ended, with a warning that I was a super powerful psycho. Perfect.

“So…” Grimm began into the tense silence of the plane. “I’m assuming that Romeo is the strategist of the group.” He looked between Edward and me. “And I’m assuming that Edward would be the strategist of your group. Meaning that Edward, would be Romeo, and you remembering around him, together, is a really good thing.”

Edward and I shared a quick look and nodded.

“Weird.” Slick mumbled to himself.

“This whole freaking situation is weird… but what exactly are you talking about?” Reaver threw in, looking haggard. Well as much as a professional assassin can look exhausted anyway. He needed some sleep otherwise he was going to be useless to us.

“The names. They’re all a part of the phonetic alphabet.” It was almost like Slicks words paused the entire room. He looked around the room before settling on Edward and me. “I don’t think they actually gave you guys names. Just letters.”

Well. That kind of sucks.


	14. Rallying The Troops

Chapter 14

“I’m confused…” Bernardo started as he stood and started pacing in a tight little circle. “I thought you needed everyone in your group to get your memories back? How can you just wake up you two without them?”

I sighed. It was a responsible question. “From what I’ve felt, each of us have an individual spell on us that can be dispersed individually if necessary, but that only if the others energy is given. No matter if they’re here or not I still need their energy to remember, just like they need mine. We can get the energy in different ways: if someone dies, the energy is equally dispersed between the living members the moment that person’s soul leaves their body. If their alive than they can touch each other to distribute the energy.” I closed my eyes visualizing the aruras of the others connected to me. I could feel something else as well, it feels like a backup option and something else…. I froze…uh oh. Should I address this now? “If we’re forced to stay separated than we can override it all together by… pulling? I guess you could say? It feels like a kill switch that can remove all the spells at once.” I slowly opened my eyes to find myself staring at the floor. “The biggest problem with that is there would be a massive flood of magic and memories that it would cause a temporary insanity that can last a few minutes to a few days. The interesting thing is, I can only feel the switch when Edward and I are together, which means if I’m alone, I can’t turn it off. Edward HAS to be with me.” I looked at Edward. “But I’m sure you could turn yours off whether I’m there or not.”

He gave a small nod.

“Wait, if you’re just figuring this out the same time we are, how do you know all this about the magic and the rules and shit. It can’t just come from a feeling.” Grimm looked, well…grimm. I kind of get why he was titled that.

I shrugged. “I just know it’s true. It might be my memories trying to break free. I mean some of the magic has been removed already.”

“Which isn’t a good thing because you are not supposed to awaken without physical and magical barriers put in place.” Olaf said, his voice muffled from the cockpit.

“He’s right…” Imp stood in front of me and Edward staring at us seriously. “You’re not supposed to be awakened without full security in place. Which means that you two should not be next to each other.”

I shook my head “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Anita, you said that the magic works better with proximity. That you have to be touching to speed up the memory process. But we’re trying to slow the process until we can get you to a safe place for safe keeping.” Bernardo stood and pointed to his seat. Indicating that I should move there. “You two need some space to slow this thing down until we find the others and a safe place to awaken all of you.”

I frowned and looked at the others in the cabin. They all had a unified look of agreement. It looked they wanted me to move so much that they were willing to do it with force if necessary. Then again it’s not like I can argue with them. It is their lives hanging in the balance here. Edward gave me a small smile of reassurance and nodded towards the chair Bernardo had just vacated. I slowly stood with the computer, holding it too me like a security blanket. I don’t know why but the idea of being further from Edward than absolutely necessary was starting to make me twitchy. Everything in my being was telling me to fight them, that they were a threat. The crazy thing is, I didn’t see them as a threat to me but to Edward. I didn’t like that they were trying to separate us and that they would be in between me and him.

“Anita…” I turned from the assassins who looked to be on high alert, clearly they were reading my mood, to Edward. “It’s okay. Sit over there for me.” I gave a slow nod and went to sit in the previously vacated seat. The moment my butt touched the chair there was an all-inclusive sigh of relief from the guys.

“From now on you two get no more alone time, no more one-on-ones. You stay separated until we figure this thing out.” Bernardo sat next to Edward as the other men settled back down. I didn’t like that, and Bernardo saw it on my face. “Anita, you’re already acting different and volatile and from what I heard the magic is just barely being chipped away.” He looked at me with a look full of caution. I knew he was right. I wasn’t being myself, or was I starting to really be myself. I don’t know. But what I do know is that didn’t want any of them next to Edward. “Jesus…That look, that’s what I’m talking about Anita. You’re freaking me the fuck out and you just started removing the magic around you.”

I could feel everyone looking at me again, this time their hands next to their weapons. All of them using a knife instead of a gun since guns and planes don’t mix. “We’re trying to slow the magic…right?” I asked keeping my attention on the others, they all had a knife in their hand. You should pay attention to an assassin with a knife.

I watched as they all shared a quick glance and frowned in confusion. “Yeeeaaahhhh…” Bernardo said in a questioning type of voice. Probably wondering why I was repeating what this whole confrontation was about.

“Then you and Olaf need to keep your distance from us and each other as well.” Everyone froze, Edward included, and just looked at me.

Finally Imp broke the silence. “What?”

“You heard me.”

His mouth moved for a moment, no words escaping. Slick pick up the conversation instead. “Are you saying that Bernardo and Olaf are part of your group?”

“Yes.” I said not expanding on how I knew. Was it relevant? Well…maybe. “When I felt the magic just now to determine how to shut it down, it felt like a fog had been lifted. I can now feel the others, but I can’t identify them unless their close. Since Olaf and Bernardo are on the plane, I was able to determine their identity quickly. If we’re going to slow it down, Olaf and Bernardo need to keep a physical distance from me and Edward and each other.”

Reaver was the first to let go of his weapon so he could use both hands to grip his head. “Are you telling me that the four horsemen are all a part of the same manipulated group, to apparently be the only group to complete all the tests, and all have amnesia, but somehow, without their powers, became global icons in the preternatural and regular world?” 

Before I could answer a growling sound coming from the cockpit. Everyone startled and looked in the direction. I didn’t need to see him to know that it was Olaf. None of us said anything as it continued, why was he growling? I was so confused, and then it came to me, he wasn’t growling, he was purring. Lion’s have a very different, very deadly sounding purr, but it was a contented sound. Knowing that he was connected to me and having a firm explanation as to why he was so infatuated with me was cathartic for him. No more uncertainties or questions, at least in that way. I looked around the room and every one was touching a weapon, Edward and Bernardo as well.

“Guys, he’s purring not growling.” All eyes turned back to me. I shrug, “I hang with a lot of were-animals. Trust me, that’s not a sound of anger. And yes, Reaver, that’s exactly what I’m saying.” Grimm opened his mouth as if to say something before pressing his lips together looking up as if he was searching for God, and slowly shaking his head as he let out a breath.

No one said anything. I don’t think there was much that they could say. After a time, Bernardo got up cautiously and moved a couple seats down. Imp took his vacated seat and Slick sat next to me. Grimm moved and took the seat near Bernardo as if they planned on physically stopping us from getting too close, and they might. It isn’t such a bad idea.

“Jackson, how long do we have before we land in Russia?” Edward asked staring at me, lost in thought.

“Uhhh… about 3 hours.” He was still looking between me, Edward, Bernardo, and Olaf, well his direction as he was still flying the plane. I should have known meeting up with those two in Africa wasn’t a coincidence.

“Then this is what we’ll do: Anita will continue to prepare to call the last to us once we land. Reaver and Slick will rest for the time being. Jackson will continue to keep track of the portals and finding where they are exactly. Olaf will fly the rest of the way and Grimm and Imp will continue to locate Jaxon and find some way to get in touch with him. A phone number preferably.” I just opened my computer and started doing what I needed to be prepared for later. Once I began working everyone slowly went back to their tasks as well.

“What about me?”

“It will be your job to monitor me and Anita. Of anyone here you know us the best personality wise.” Edwards face went into kill mode and I saw Bernardo shift uncomfortably. “It’s your job to make sure Anita doesn’t remember until it’s safe for her too. I know your memories are coming back as well and touching her isn’t good for you either, but I need someone to keep an eye on use so the others can stay updated to our status.” Bernardo gave an uncomfortable nod of understanding. He was our back up plan. I wish that I could say that it was unnecessary, but I knew I had no control over this thing and how I feel. Until I get my full memories, I have no idea where this is heading, and caution is better than dead. This did not mean that I was okay with him being put between me and Edward. To be honest I didn’t want to hurt Bernardo, or Olaf for that matter, and it would really upset me if they did get hurt, I don’t know when that happened but whatever. For some reason Edward is different than them, I can’t, can not let Edward get hurt. For some reason it would destroy me, and I don’t know when that happened.

Wow. When did I get so possessive of Edward? I don’t even remember the change from casual friend to mother bear protecting her cub. It was such a smooth transition…I wonder what I’m really like. Is my appearance fake too? If it is, what do I really look like? Is that why I never felt comfortable in my own skin? Was it never truly my skin? I took a second to breathe and turned away from those thoughts. Edward gave me a job to do. I needed to get it done. I put my headphone on, turned on ‘Got To Give It Up’ by Marvin Gaye on a loop and got to work (and yes it was the full 10 minute 26 seconds version of it). In no time at all we were landing in Russia. Edward gave a similar pep talk as before but with a different mission. Keep our entry into the country a secret, find a place to bunker down so I can call the last person, and get contact information on Jaxon so we can get in touch with him when we’re ready.

This time we were able to land the plan in a large international airport. Apparently, Grimm had some contacts and the boy’s technology was enough to slip us through the radar. Olaf and Slick were tasked in renting the two cars from different agencies at different times. You know, to keep it sporadic. It was a quick thing to load up the cars and head out to a hotel that Bernardo found on his phone. It was a regular hotel, nothing special, just a place where vacationers normally go, a great place to avoid suspicion.

Once we were settled into our three room suite, with its own kitchen and everything, Edward turned to me, “You ready?”

I nodded and took out the supplies I needed. Luckily, I always carried certain items with me in case I need to do some emergency magic. It was also a good thing that this room had wood floors and not the usual carpet that most hotels like to use so much. “Push all the furniture to the walls. I need the middle of the room clear.” While they did that, I took out the chalk, salt, five candles (all different colors), and a silver knife. Once the floor was clear the boys stood near the wall.

“Do you need me?”

I shook my head as I began to draw a circle around me. Big enough that I could sit Indian style. “I got it Edward. Just make sure no one touches me when I’m working.” With that done I made a quick trip to the window to find where the sun was in the sky. In order to do this, I needed to match up my NSEW with the sun location and not the usual city North East South and West used. I quickly drew four lines for the directions, making a smaller circle at the end of the line to hold the candles. I quickly made one last bigger circle around it all. In between each candle I drew a symbol to represent each element. The fifth element symbol, spirit, and fifth candle came into the middle of it all with me. Next was the salt, which I used to line the outer circle, to cleanse it, while muttering a purifying spell under my breath. Once I was done it was like the room sighed. The air in the room got lighter, the room itself got brighter, and I could see the tension on the men lessen. A good purity spell will do that. “Don’t break that circle.” I said to no one in particular. Then I picked up the knife, cut my wrist and slowly walked the smaller circle. This was block out the other forces the purity spell might have missed. No need for anyone to be nosy. My blood was also a sacrifice to the elements for allowing me to use their power. The moment my blood touched again closing the circle, the candles lite themselves.

I carefully sat in the middle of it all, closed my eyes and sorted through all of my bonds to find that last part of our team. The link to Edward was the strongest and the brightest of them all. I used the link to Edward as a basis of what the last will feel like. It was easier to find it then I would have previously thought. Then again, they’re quite literally a part of me, a real part not the sorry excuse for a link the marks are. I tried to follow the last one to the end to see who they were but the further I reached the more I could feel the magic holding my real self in check begin to slip. I figure that the consequences of seeing who they are is too high a price for me to pay when I’ll know anyway in a few hours. I would like to say if it’s a man or a women but the magic energy just feels like an extension of me, I can’t tell.

Instead I pulled back and sent out a call to them. It’s very similar to a wolf putting out a call for its pack mates but instead of hearing it they would feel it vibrate in their being. I sent a series of images in their minds telling them where to go to find us. I push urgency into their mind to promote a hasty response. I could feel them take notice and send back a time frame of when they would be there. I knew that even though they would have no idea why they were heading out here and that the person inside of them wouldn’t allow them to fight against an emergency call of their brethren. No matter how much we might not know of ourselves, denying a part of ourselves help is out of the question. It’s one of the reasons I could never deny Edward.

With that done I took a moment to study the link between me and the other people in my life. I could now see a clear difference with how their connected to me and how the others _are_ me. For a short time, I felt all the disgust and more at the abominations called marks and bonds. That shit needed to go. I felt the _ardeur_ start to flare up, but I pushed it to the wayside. Funny, with the understanding that the _ardeur_ truly wasn’t mine the better I could control it. Just like anything you do, when it has nothing to do with you it’s easy to control, but when you take the responsibility on yourself the more complicated it seems, the more stress you feel, and the less control you have over it.

I opened my eyes, pulled back the rest of my magic and insured that my powers were once again under lock and key. I broke the closed blood circle which immediately put out the flames of the candles. I stood walked to the salt circle and broke that as well. I looked at the boy standing around the outer edges of the room looking at me expectantly. 

Since I didn’t feel like talking to them, I turned away and looked to Edward standing away from them in the kitchen. He was leaning on the counter near the refrigerator. He knew just by looking at me that everything went according to plan. 

"I'm hungry." 

He just gave me a small smirk, knowing that I was telling him that for two reasons. I couldn't cook and would need him to feed me by either cooking himself or sending someone out for food; or that I needed to feed the _ardeur_ and would need him to accompany me to another strip club. "Wet or Dry?"

"Both."

Bernardo took a step forward drawing my attention. He needs to rest, he looks tired. "I think we could all eat." There were murmured agreements from around the room. Now that I think about it none of us had eaten since we left Africa; that is if the others had even taken the time to eat like Edward and I had. 

Edward spared them all a quick glance before turning back to me although he spoke to the room. "Get ready to leave in ten. I'll find someplace we can go to sit and eat." If any of the others found it odd that Edward wanted us all to leave to eat at a sit in restaurant no one said anything. I could tell by the looks Olaf was giving me that he knew that wet food meant the _ardeur_. He was still as a statue as if he wanted to come over to me but had to restrain himself. I considered him for a moment before turning away. For the first time since meeting him I was really considering him as a possible relationship option without any fear. If anything, I was very fine with the idea, and I have no idea when that transition of thought occurred. It’s so weird to have thoughts and feelings completely contradict everything you thought you were before. I don’t know who I am anymore, I am literally relearning my self and I feel like I should be afraid but I’m nothing but relieved.

Edward stood from his relaxed slouching position and walked over to me. I could see the intent on his face, and I knew that he felt the call just like the others and he wanted to touch me to reconnect to the source. Bernardo must have seen his intent as well because he quickly stepped between us, effectively blocking Edward from me. I watched as Bernardo practically vibrated with the need to turn to me as well but he was fighting it. He had a job and he was going to do it to the best of his ability.

"Edward, not five hours ago you gave me the job of making sure that she does not wake up prematurely. That means that I have to stop you from touching her which would speed up the remembering process."

Edward frowned, “I know what I said.”

“Then please, move away.”

It was quiet for a moment before Edward went to my bag and pulled out my cell and headphones. He started to walk over to me to give them to me, but paused and thought better of it. Instead he handed them to Slick. "Give that to Anita." It bothered me that he couldn't just give it to me. If it had been anyone else enforcing this separation rule, I would have hurt him long ago, but I wasn't stupid. Edward gave the order and Bernardo was going to follow it. That was something I couldn't be mad at. Wanting to punch Slick when he gave me the phone was more reasonable, but I held back. "Start with the usual." I gave him a look of reluctant disgust. "Don't give me that Anita. You know just like I do that you are upset. Put on the headphones and calm down."

I sighed putting on the headphones as I looked around the room realizing that everyone was still standing in the room staring at us. Not thinking I bared my teeth at them. They all turned their eyes from me, and went about their business, keeping me in their peripheral vision.

"Put on the music Anita." Hmm... that was an order. I went to the first song on the list and pressed play. 'Lithium' by Evanescence came on, by the first press of the piano key I calmed. By the first note of her voice I was humming. By the second word of the first verse I was swaying. 

**Edwards POV**

This wasn't good. The magic was breaking down faster than expected. She was already at the stage of needing music. If the others can't make it here before the critical point than I was going to bring her in without them. Her calling out to them had sped up the remembering process. You can always tell with her by what she does. They purposely made her cover hate the things that were her preferred activities. It then made her tells obvious. For instance: Anita hates dancing, but here she in in the middle of the room dancing in front of unknown assassins. If that wasn't enough than there's the fact that she let herself be completely absorbed in the music knowing she's in a situation with various unknowns. She should be worrying and she's not.

It's not helping that my natural inclination is to keep her close and to calm her with touch. Since I have to keep my distance, the various ways to calm her were limited. This just makes keeping her calm and relaxed harder to do... I'll have to come up with something, and soon.

_SOMEWHERE IN THE USA…_

The man was hanging out with some of his friends in the kitchen of his girlfriend’s house. Someone had just made a joke and everyone was laughing. It had been a good day for everyone and no one wanted to ruin it. He was in the process of standing to refresh his drink when it hit. It was like a punch to the gut. He lost his breath and fell to the ground, convulsing like he was having a seizure. His friends jumped up, one going for the phone to call for help, another trying to keep him from hitting his head, and the others just standing not know what to do. The images flashed in his mind, he knew the place… he had been there before. Once he was able to regain full-body motor control he stood and pushing his friends out of the way. He calmly grabbed his cell phone and car keys as he walked out of the house. His friends tried to call him back but he was already in the car driving away calling the airline. He had shit to do.


End file.
